Glory Of The Hunt
by KingBowser444
Summary: The second of two prequels to "A Feudel Dream". When a supernatural threat strikes a parallel world, one hero dares to join forces with a group of zombie hunters to stop it!
1. It's Zombie Time!

Author's Note: Alright, this is the second of two prequels to "A Feudel Dream", in case anybody has peeked at/read that first. I don't own the existing character, but the "combo-plater" character that the fictional version of me is able to transform into is my own creation. Enjoy the story!

* * *

Dream Quest: Glory Of The Hunt

Three weeks after their latest and greatest adventure in the perilous Outworld, the Masters decided that they needed some down time. After all, since they've been around crime rates have dropped by more than sixty percent; so they figured that Pennsylvania's finest could handle it on their own for a while. After taking a vote between the six of them, they all decided to take all their loved ones on a beach vacation! The bags were all packed and they were on their way! They got to the beach and immediately began to have fun. Setting up camp, cooking on the grill, doing volleyball, and all sorts of other things. In the middle of their three weeks of fun, however, they saw an all too familiar face appear on the ocean waters!

It seems that the Good Lord had another mission for them; right when they were getting used to not having to worry too! With this, the six men got out of the water and headed back to the campsite, leaving their loved ones behind to ponder what God wanted. Once they reached the campsite, God started to speak. God:"As you boys know, life doesn't always go your way. That appears to be the case in Other World." Shane:"Where in Other World?" God:"I think the more proper question is `when.' A series of events have occurred in Other World in the fairly distant 2065. As much as all of you would like to go, I'm afraid that Matt must go alone!" They all shouted in unison, "Why?" God opened up a rift in time and space. God:"Because an ancient legend of the area states that `Only he who can vanquish the dead can save the world from total damnation'. Matt is the only one among who that can kill the undead." With that, He disappeared, leaving the portal in his wake. After a quick change of clothes, Matt leaps through the portal without hesitation!

When Matt emerged from the Time & Space portal, he was in Other World, 2065. He appeared in a practically abandoned city; piles upon piles of rubble were everywhere. Matt saw nothing immediately wrong, other than the darkness of the night, with the exception of a huge rioting crowd up ahead a few blocks. The **Power-Sensing Ability** within Matt picked up several hundred evil presences, but Matt can't see anything around him! Then, the rioting crowd sees Matt and starts to come toward him in a menacing manner! That's just when the cavalry arrived! The Hunters run up and begin to hack up the crowd with midevil weapons! Right about then, Matt realizes that his mortal eyes can't see the truth of the situation. Knowing this, he changes his eyes into those of Brawn for a few seconds. By doing this, a whole new world opens up! The rioters are actually the walking dead; large stone gargoyle statues possessed by ghosts lumber toward the Hunters; and tiny spider-like time bombs crawl toward them, threatening to blow them to smithereens! At this vision, Matt comes to grips at why God didn't want the others to come along on the mission:only Brawn can see the fiends for what they truly are!

So, Matt transforms into this Nintendo form and quickly flies to a rooftop. Matt decided to play it safe and not reveal himself to the Hunters just yet; Brawn's demonic appearance would probably frighten them, causing them to see him as a threat. Matt does, however, help from the shadows. He fires **Fortress Beams** at incoming zombies, then disappearing without a trace. After a while, the Hunters see a pattern and figure that another "imbued" is helping them on their quest.


	2. School House Rock

After about an hour, the Hunters manage to fight their way to a schoolyard, just two miles from where Matt arrived. Once they reach the schoolyard, they are told by "The Messengers", a society dedicated to studying and destroying the supernatural, to find a small girl. No sooner had the group of four walk two steps, when suddenly two hundred zombies appear out of thin air and start to attack them! Despite the fact that the Hunters were being mobbed by the undead, Matt does absolutely nothing; doing so would give his position away. The leader of the Hunters, called Judge, slashed his way through a few zombies with his Crusader Sword and headed after more. Right behind him was a huge seven foot man, known as the Avenger, armed with a Battle Axe. The huge man was spinning in small circles, decapitating any zombies foolish enough to get near him. There were two women as well; one was a black women armed with a samurai Katana, known as Defender, and the other was of Asian decent, called Martyr, armed with a dagger in each hand. These two were finishing off any zombies that the other two missed.

Rekilling the undead is nasty business, however. This was proved very blatantly by the large puddles of blood which now covered the road and grass of the schoolyard. It seemed that no matter how many zombies the Hunters killed, more appeared. Finally, after hacking and slashing their way through mob after mob of undead people, the Hunters are successful in eliminating the threat. The sight of all the mangled limbs and pools of blood would make anybody with weak stomachs cringe in disgust. With the zombies destroyed, the Hunters go back into the schoolyard to find the little girl. They figured that the girl would show herself once the majority of the zombies were killed.

When they did go back into the schoolyard, however, they were met by something that was anything but little. A huge "Fleshcraft" monster leaped down from the school's roof and landed in the street! The creature is a fourteen foot abomination created from mutated human flesh! The Fleshcraft is oblivious to Matt, but it doesn't miss the Hunters! Judge saw it coming first; Judge:"God help us!"

After regaining his courage, he lead the Hunters into battle. All of the Hunters pulled out their ranged weapons, which thanks the Messenger's _White Magic_, could be reloaded an infinite amount of times! Judge's weapon of choice was a Crossbow, while Avenger preferred to hit his foes hard with a high powered, pump action Rifle. Defender was armed with the Revolver she used while on the police force, while Martyr had two pistols. The Hunters hit the slow, cumbersome creature with everything that they can muster, firing relentlessly. The creature appeared to be unharmed, however. Although it was taking hits, evident by bullet holes, its mutated skin was very tough and the creature was quite resilient. So, with a roar, the creature slammed the ground with its open palm, sending out a shockwave! The shockwave was sufficient enough to carry the Hunters toward the wall of a building.

The huge monstrosity loomed over the Hunters, who tensed up, ready for the end; despite being blessed, they are only human. The creature raised its gigantic hand, to bring it down upon the defenceless Hunters' heads! Suddenly, Matt fires a pre-prepped Fortress Beam at the creature. The drilling beam hits the creature in the chest, cutting off a normal sized arm hanging from it! The creature roars with pain as Matt shouts, "BACK OFF!" At that moment, the Hunters look up and see Matt in his full Brawn form!

The Fleshcraft looks up at its attacker and glares evilly. This distraction gave the Hunters time to recover and run out of the creature's path. The monster roars and lots of the spider time bombs, called Skitters, appeared from the road leading to the school! Matt:"You guys take care of the monster, I'll keep the Skitters off your backs!" With that, the more Skitters that came, the more Fortress Beams that Matt fired. As for the Hunters, they continued to fire relentlessly. The creature didn't know what to do; it didn't know whither to protect its bomb-like friends or destroy the Hunters. The constant bullet barrage helped it come to a conclusion. It slapped the ground once again, but this time the Hunters leap over the shockwaves and continued firing.

Although the creature seemed to be impervious to all harm, the bullets that the Hunters were firing were doing a great deal of harm. As for Matt, he was having sort of a difficult time keeping up with all the Skitters that continued to flow from the road! That's when Matt got an idea. He let about fifty of the Skitters get through his barrage. When they neared the Hunters, Matt fired a Fortress Beam at the one in front. The impending explosion caused a chain reaction and all fifty blew up at once. Unfortunately for the Fleshcraft, the Skitters blew up right behind it!

The massive explosion blew it forward through the air, past the Hunters. The Fleshcraft landed near the schoolyard entrance, with a hideous gash on its torso. That was the Hunters' cue. They started to aim at this open spot. Now that it was no longer protected by a virtually impenetrable hide, the Fleshcraft began to weaken steadily! At long last, round after round of ammunition pierced the gigantic beast's icy heart. The creature tried desperately to reach the Hunters, but it was too late for it. The Fleshcraft was too large and slow to keep up with the Hunters now that it didn't have the element of surprise on its side. After a few more bursts of ammo, the creature clutched its chest, and fell dead in the opening gates of the schoolyard. Once the monster fell dead, the Skitters stopped emerging from the road, and all remaining self-destructed. With a little help, the Hunters had won their first great victory against the evil forces of the supernatural!

Now that the creature was dead, Matt leaped down from the rooftop to meet the Hunters. The Hunters, in turn, all point their weapons at him! Matt:"Relax. I'm on your side!" Avenger:"We don't need help from any rot!" Matt:"[Changes back to normal] I'm not this `rot' which you speak of. True, that in my normal state I can't see the evil zombies, but I still have basically the same personality I have now in my other form you witnessed. [Retransforms] So, will you accept my help or will you deem me to be nothing more than `rot'?" With this, Matt extends his hand. Judge was the first to speak. Judge:"I'm not about to turn down help." With this he shakes Matt's hand; the others soon follow Judge's example. Martyr:"So, do you have a name or will you settle for `rot'?" Matt:"[(Laughs) Changes back to normal] Call me Matt." Judge:"What be your _creed_?" Matt:"[Shifts back] Brawn. The name's Brawn, Guardian of Earth." Defender:"So, do you have anything in the range of weapons or `Edges'?" Matt:"I assure you...there is much more to me than meets the eye." Defender:"Like?" Matt immediately extends his Adamantium Blades and then just as quickly sheaths them.

Avenger:"I like you already." Matt:"I'm used to working with friends. I'm afraid that I can't consider you to be friends nor complete out alliance until we are properly introduced." Judge:"Father Esteban Cortez. Creed:Judge." Defender:"Samantha Alexander. Creed:Defender." Martyr:"Kassandra Cheyung. Creed:Martyr." Avenger:"Spenser `Deuce' Wyatt. Creed:Avenger." Matt:"Alright my friends. Let's show the rot who's boss!" Avenger:"I love this guy!" Suddenly, Judge changes the subject. Judge:"We aren't completely certain as to where our powers came from, but your's certainly came from God." Matt:"How could you tell?" Judge:"You are surrounded by an aura of holy, golden light. Despite your demonic looks, you are a truly holy person." Matt:"Coming from a priest, that means a lot." Everyone else agrees with Judge quickly.

Martyr:"Wait! There was a little girl that we were supposed to find here!" Suddenly, a well preserved zombie appears with a small, frightened looking girl next to him. Defender:"Release her you vile heathen!" Ghoul:"This is Kaylie. Get her to the church. Her parents are waiting." All of the Hunters point their weapons at him as soon as the girl is by their side. The Ghoul completely ignores Matt and stares right at the four Hunters. Ghoul:"Typical. I try to help you, and this the thanks I get. You think I can't see you shaking at the other end of that barrel? Do you think that I don't know that your brain is trying to process the horrible fact that...`OH MY GOD IT TALKS!' And if it talks...it thinks. And you can't stand that can you? When are you going to learn that you're not Hunters? You're sheep...with shotguns. You don't want me for your enemy, so take the help!"

Judge:"I'm sorry. I just don't think that we can trust you." He and the other Hunters loosened their grips just a little bit. When the Ghoul saw this, he continued. Ghoul:"Forget whatever happened last year; you've barely scratched the surface of this problem. Ghosts tend to be...territorial about places where they were used like cattle and then tortured to death. They're funny that way. Arkady's execution tore a hole into the land of the dead, and unleashed every pissed off convict that died in that place since 1931. I know you four _think_ you actually accomplished something last year, but the truth is they went back to sleep on their own; there was no one left for them to kill. That was, of course, until this..." The Ghoul holds up a flyer for an all night rave on the anniversary of the execution. Ghoul:"So now they're out again, but this time they want everybody dead. The only way to stop them permanently is find the person or thing responsible for making that hole, and break them. If you do that, every rot in this town will be immediately and violently evacuated back to the other side. But, any living person not twenty miles out of town, dies with them. No favorites, no exceptions, the girl, her parents, everyone...will die! Instantly. You get it now? No second chances and no room for your stupid prejudice!" With this, the zombie disappeared, leaving Matt and the Hunters to ponder their next move.


	3. Graveyard Shift

Martyr:"Ok, well somebody has to protect Kaylie while we get her to the church." Avenger:"Matt. Could you protect the girl while we fight off the rot? Firing projectiles of any kind would help." Matt:"Death will meet me, before any harm meets Kaylie." Kaylie was clinging to Martyr's left leg, shaking with fear. Defender used her maternal instincts to calm the small child, assuring her that Matt was a good guy, despite his appearance. Judge adds that the appearance was the polar opposite of his personality; essentially, he told her that he was a holy person, despite his demonic looks. At this, Kaylie relaxes and goes over to Matt. She embraces his left leg. Now that Kaylie was used to her temporary guardian of sorts, the group headed through the playground of the school and into the awaiting cemetery.

* * *

The cemetery was short walk from the school. On the way to the cemetery, the Hunters told Matt about the events leading up to this night. The four of them met by chance in the penitentiary of Ashcroft. The prison of Ashcroft was where the dead first originated from, the previous year. The four of them met at the execution of the convicted serial killer, Nathaniel Arkady. Judge's duties as a priest required him to read the killer his final blessing as well as witness his suffering. Martyr was visiting the father of a friend. Defender also had little choice in the matter; she was on the police force. Avenger on the other hand was the first to witness the supernatural evil at work. He followed someone that he thought he killed twenty years earlier into the prison. The man disappeared and Avenger found his way into the execution viewing room.

When the police guard inside pulled the lever, all hell broke loose. The vengeful dead began to use the bodies of men like puppets and started to kill everything in sight! At that exact moment, they were "imbued" with not just the knowledge of the vengeful dead, but with the power to do something about them! Using this knowledge and power, they were able to fight back against the undead; killing them and sending them to rest once again. As for Cornelius, the man Avenger followed, he was discovered to be a vampire! With little hesitation, the Hunters used their new found powers to kill him and push the vengeful dead back. After they reached the exit to the prison, they gathered all the materials that they could and sealed the door to the prison.

Hopefully, nobody would ever have to disturb them again. But...that was anything but the case. On the one year anniversary of Nathaniel Arkady's execution, a large group of foolish teenagers threw the all night rave. The load music and human intrusion reawakened the evil spirits, who released their anger on the entire town. Upon hearing of the riots at Ashcroft, the Hunters returned. Their normal lives were over; now all they do...is hunt!

* * *

The cemetery was dark and dimly lit by street lights hanging above. At first there appeared to be nothing amiss, but Matt's Power Sensing ability told him differently. Soon, every angry spirit inhabiting the cemetery rose up from their graves and attacked! On sight, the Hunters charged at the onslaught of undead monsters. Hacking and slashing the monsters into pieces and thus giving their souls at least temporary peace. As for Matt, he watched the carnage; looking for any zombies who escaped the Hunters' eyes. Kaylie hid her face with Matt's cape, her childish eyes couldn't stand the sight before her. Within a few minutes, all the zombies that had appeared a few moments before were killed and the group continued forward.

When they went past another burial site, more zombies appeared. Out of the burial site itself, malevolent ghosts appeared! The ghosts started to fire balls of energy, capable of physically harming any living person. The ghosts saw the Hunters destroying the zombies and were about to attack them; but then they caught sight of the terrified little girl! They also saw Matt, whose demonic looks confused them into thinking that he was on their side! They fired their balls of energy, which were quickly and effectively deflected by Matt. Matt, in turn, fired a **Mini Necro Blade Dragon** at each of the evil spirits. Upon contact, the ghosts screeched with pain and disintegrated into green flames! As for the Hunters, they were having some trouble with the zombies; there were more than three hundred of them! Matt:"[Inner] Uh oh! [Audible] Necro Blade Dragon!" The fully powered beam plowed forward and eliminated several of the further behind zombies and even a few that were very close to the Hunters. As they finished killing some and looked onward, they saw the dragon surging forward and swallowing its prey! The powerless zombies then disintegrated into the green flames and disappeared.

Judge:"My God! What was that?" The Hunters were unaware that their new friend was the one releasing the bright green beast. Matt and Kaylie walked closer to the others. Matt:"I guess you could call that an `Edge'. My Necro Blade Dragon attack can instantly destroy any zombie or ghost that it touches." Defender:"Fantastic!" Matt looked down at Kaylie; she seemed to be even more frightened than before. That was when Matt heard really raspy breathing coming from behind him! Matt extended his Adamantium Blades and in one swift motion, spun around and decapitated the zombie! This was followed by a slash to the scoundrel's torso, which killed it. Avenger:"Come on. We better get moving. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

So, they pressed forward and managed to go past a few grave sights without being attacked. Soon, however, the group came to a steep hill. When they reached the top, they saw a massive army of undead. There were more than 400 zombies and ghosts within it! Matt was lagging behind because Kaylie was nowhere near a quick as any of the adults. He did, however, sense the huge army of zombies!

When Matt reached the top of the hill, he saw that the Hunters were doing just fine. The Hunters had pulled out all the stops; they were using their magical powers, or `Edges', that they received with their knowledge to lay a serious smackdown on the zombies. Avenger was using his Cleave Edge. The edge caused his Battle Axe to burn with supernatural power, which dramatically increased the amount of damage he could do. Martyr had used her Demand Edge. It made her not only move at superhuman speeds, but it slightly increase how much physical damage she could do with a hack of her daggers. Judge had an edge that was quite similar to Matt's Necro Blade Dragon. Judge's Word Of Power Edge focused the powers of light and purity and fired a tiny beam out of each of Judge's fingers. The beam(s) didn't do near as much damage to a zombie or ghost as Matt's dragon, but it got the job done. As for Defender, she used her Ward Edge. This power formed a barrier of pure energy around her and the other Hunters. The weaker enemies died upon touching it; the stronger ones who were foolish enough to brave the barrier, took heavy amounts of damage when they did.

Matt was impressed and took a spectator's position on the hill. He didn't just stand there, though. He fired tens upon tens of Fortress Beams at the zombies that were further away. The beams decapitated and/or killed several of them. The Hunters were familiar with the beams and didn't question their source. In the meantime, they continued to hack away at the undead creatures that stood before them. Despite the really unfair odds, the Hunters and Matt were victorious over the massive army, but not without a few scratches. Among all the dead bodies, they saw a shining object. Judge went over to pick it up. When he did, everyone discovered that it was a key. Judge:"What do you suppose a deadman was carrying this for?" Matt:"Perhaps it is to open that gate." He pointed toward a huge iron gate a few meters away. When Judge inserted the key, the gate few open wide!

When he did, more zombies appeared, as did a few ghosts. The zombies were pretty far away, so the Hunters switched to their ranged weapons and started to blast away. As for the ghosts, they went straight for Kaylie and became a dragon's meal. With the approaching zombies destroyed, the group pressed on, deeper in to the haunted cemetery. After they made a turn along the path and came to a central area in the road. The road was near several grave sites. Out of each of the five grave sites, ten zombies and five ghosts emerged!

The Hunters knew that Matt could better eliminate the ghosts, so they went straight for the zombies and charged into the fray. As for Matt, he used his cape to shield Kaylie's eyes and fired a Mini Necro Blade Dragon out of each hand. The beams took out two ghosts at once and continued in a straight line, eliminating more ghosts the further left or right the beams moved. Before they were killed, however, the final sixteen fired off their blasts. Since Matt was focusing on firing his beams, he couldn't deflect the blasts! All sixteen of the blasts struck him in the same place on his chest, creating a huge, gapping wound! The ghosts, quickly paid the price afterwards.

Defender:"Oh my God! Here! I'll use my Rejuvenate Edge to heal you!" Matt:"Don't bother. [His wound heals up before their eyes] I heal real quick." Defender used her Rejuvenate Edge anyway; when she was in close proximity to the other Hunters, she could heal them as well. The Hunters were doing the front lines work while Matt protected Kaylie, so they were taking quite a beating.

In amongst all the blood and mangled limps, Matt and the Hunters saw another key. The key was to another gate, a fair distance away. That gate was, of course, guarded by many more rotting corpses. But, the Hunters were ready. Matt figured that he'd let them go to work. Kaylie was frightened out of her wits, and Matt didn't want her to see any more carnage than she had to. So, a few hacks and slashes later, the Hunters had cleared a path to the gate. With a turn of the key, the gate shot open, revealing more cemetery.

After a steep incline, the group was met by a few ghosts, and plenty of rot. At this, Avenger unleashed his Smite Edge. The Edge sent out a radial blast of Fire Magic, which obliterated every rot in range. Following this, Judge used his Burden Edge. This sent out a radial blast of pure, blue energy. Any rot caught within range of it, was frozen in time, burdened by the weight of its sins! This allowed the others to kill the rot at their leisure with little to worry about. Matt was firing Fortress Beams at the ones further back, eliminating quite a few of them. As for the ghosts, Martyr and Defender were taking care of them. Despite their ability to pass through objects, the ghosts were unable to dodge the Hunters' blades. After a few slashes, the ghosts disintegrated into blue fire balls. When everyone was finished with their enemies, they continued forward.

After a short walk, they could see another gate in the distance, but they had no key. That was, of course, until a zombie tried to jump Judge from a burial area and was punched out of the air by Avenger. Avenger then hacked the monster's head off, finishing it. From within the beast's body, a key emerged. With it in hand, they continued forward, fighting any rot that got in their way.

In front of the gate, there were two gargoyle statues. The group went right in front of the statues and nothing happened, so they figured that the statues were lifeless. They were...until they went through the gate. When they went through the gate, the ghosts possessing the statues sprang into action. Matt sensed their Life Force, but by then it was too late. One jumped him, tackling him to the ground and slashing him repeatedly. The other, went straight for the defenceless little girl! The others heard Matt go down and spun around in time to rush the evil gargoyle going for Kaylie. They all got a few good hacks on it, but it used its stone tail to knock them all away; hard. They landed fifteen feet away. Now the gargoyle was free to attack the frightened little girl. She was so scared, that she couldn't run; she stood there, like a deer caught in the headlights!

After taking about thirty slashes to the head and chest, Matt extended his Adamantium Blades and stabbed the statue through its head and decapitated it. When the statue "died", the ghost possessing it died as well! The Hunters had just gotten up and ran for Kaylie. The gargoyle was about to pounce on her, when suddenly the Hunters saw another dragon. The only difference was, this one was golden. Matt fired a Dragon Chain, which wrapped around the terrified Kaylie and pulled her to safety. Now, the Hunters were free to release their anger on the gargoyle; and they did it in spades! They hacked and slashed the evil creature with such intensity, that it died in a matter of moments and the ghost faded away. After a bit of Rejuvenation, the Hunters were completely healed and ready to roll.

After the gargoyles, there were more rot to deal with. But, they were child's play compared with the stone beasts. After they easily killed the rot, they went up three flights of stairs and went toward the church entrance. There were two more gargoyle statues in front of that door! Matt was able to sense Life Force in those statues before anything bad happened this time. Matt went behind the far one. When the statues came to life, Matt fired a single Fortress Beam, which drilled through one statue, then the other, killing them both! Martyr:"Hey! We're anything but powerless here!" Martyr was only nineteen, so her getting smart with Matt came as little surprise to him. Matt:"I know that. But, I want to get the girl inside as quickly as possible. She's scared out of her mind!"

Martyr couldn't argue with that. When they tried the door to the church, it was locked from the inside. Judge:"Of all the doors to lock! Oh well. We shall have to find a key to the door. If our luck continues, perhaps one of the rot is holding it." So, the group split up. Avenger and Martyr went around the left side of the church, while Judge and Defender went to the right. Matt followed Judge and Defender. There was a few headstones on that side of the church and Matt could sense some gargoyles on the rooftop.

Avenger and Martyr found only a few rot on their side of the church. One of them was holding the long lost key to the church! When they found the key, two gargoyles dropped off of the roof behind them. Martyr activated her Demand Edge and went charging forward and rushed the first one. While she was doing that, Avenger focused and his Axe went ablaze with power, through the magic of Cleave. With his powered up axe, Avenger was able to take down the other gargoyle with just seven swings! When he finished killing his, Martyr was finishing her's. The pair of Hunters then went back towards the door of the church to wait for the others.

One hundred rot met Matt and the others on the right side of the church! To make matters worse, two gargoyles leaped down from the roof on this side as well, making the battle difficult for them. Matt fired a Mini Necro Blade Dragon out of each hand and was slowly but surely killing the rot, one creature at a time! As for Judge and Defender, they each went after a gargoyle. By using his Burden Edge, Judge was able to paralyse the one he was fighting, enabling him to defeat it with ease. Defender focused her Ward Edge. The magic was keeping the foal beast at bay while she attacked, the barrier damaging it just as much as she was. In the end, the Hunters and Matt were victorious, but with no key. Defender:"Deuce and Kassandra probably found it. Lets head back to the entrance." When the two groups rejoined one another, Matt and his group discovered that Avenger and Martyr had in fact found the key they needed. Without further hesitation, they went inside the holy building. Besides getting Kaylie to her parents, they hoped to get a little rest before continuing their fight against the evil forces of the supernatural!


	4. Holy War

When they went inside Kaylie's babysitter, whom the Hunters saved from the rot before Matt even came into the picture, greeted them. With a deep bow of her head she thanked the Hunters, but shuttered in fear of Matt, due to his appearance. This also came to little surprise to Matt. Kaylie ran up the isle as fast as her little legs could carry her. Her father saw her first. Father:"Kaylie? KAYLIE? Where have you been? Are you all right?" Her father and mother knelt down and embraced her.

On her way up the isle, Kaylie dropped her teddy bear. While her parents her hugging her, something evil was taking possession of the little girl's bear! Matt and the others were leaning against the wall to rest for a little while. That was when they heard a bizarre stretching sound. Kaylie's parents suddenly saw a huge ten foot teddy bear creature staring at them! They stood up and looked into the creature's eyes with disbelief. That's when Matt and the other's saw this thing. The Hunters all readied their weapons, but it was too late. With a load roar, the "bear" used its ten inch long claws to slash Kaylie's parents across their chests, killing them instantly! Upon seeing her parent's murder, Kaylie turned around and screamed in fear at the top of her lungs! Matt:"Are you rotten bastards _TRYING_ to piss me off?" After Matt shouted this, the bear became aware of them. It turned and roared loudly before it began to charge them!

Judge:"Split up! We'll be able to fight it easier if we're not all in one place!" Matt stayed right where he was, the others ran to the corners of the church. The monster continued to run straight for Matt. The monster slashed at him, but Matt ducked. Matt counter-attacked with an uppercut. It sent the bear flying toward the front of the church. The bear landed on the alter of the church and left a huge crack down the middle of it! Matt & the Hunters:"OOOOHHHHH!" This was followed by the **Sign of the Cross** and a very fast prayer for forgiveness!

The bear basically ignored the Hunters; its sights were set on Matt! The Hunters shot the bear repeatedly, leaving a great many holes in the skin of it. The possessed teddy bear didn't bleed, but pieces of stuffing came out of it, followed by small flashes of blue. This gave Matt an idea. When the bear grabbed for him, he went down and slid between its legs. He got back up and kicked the monster in its rear, sending it flying in to a wall. Matt ran up to it, Blades unsheathed. The creature turned around and got Matt in a, quite literal, Bear Hug!

The creature was most certainly stronger than it looked. Matt:"[Inner] Jezz! Is this thing Giga Bowser reincarnated!" The creature continued to crush Matt with its powerful arms. The Hunters suddenly stopped shooting. Defender:"We have to help him!" Avenger:"Too risky! He's not protected from our attacks by White Magic! We may not be able to harm each other, but we may be able to harm him!" Judge:"Then, we'd better change our firing direction! Look!" The bear roared with both glee and orders; it ordered other ghosts to come in and take care of the Hunters while it finished off "the traitor demon"!

Matt:"Spikes of Penance!" The thirty-six spikes once again extended from his body, piercing the bear not only in its arms, but its chest as well! With this shock of pain, it let Matt go. Matt then proceeded to stab the thing in its stomach with either hand and Dragon Chains came from his wrists and pierced the creature in four more places! The Hunters took care of the ghosts for the moment, and they turned their attention back to the bigger problem. Matt:"There's a ghost possessing the bear, but it keeps moving around! If we can find a way to locate it, we can destroy it!" The bear proceeded to backhand Matt across the face and sent him flying, smashing through pew after pew!

Avenger:"You heard the man!" The Hunters proceeded to fire at the bear, each one aiming for a different spot. Because of all the holes in the bear's body, the ghost could no longer hide and began to get hit by bullets repeatedly. Matt got back to his feet and fired a few Fortress Beams at the abomination. The bear's body was pierced again and again by bullets and the beams. Eventually, the beams and bullets all found the ghost and it was now at their mercy. Finally, after a few more shots and a hack from Matt's Blades, the creature was defeated.

The bear roared with agony a few times, then it fell flat on its back. Once it did, the ghost left its host body and disintegrated into blue flames. From behind them, Matt and the Hunters could hear clapping. They turned to see the Ghoul, sitting on the cracked alter! Ghoul:"That's right! Don't take no shit from anybody's stuffed animal!" Defender:"I think that it's about time you told us who you really are!" Ghoul:"Carpenter. If you have to call me something, you can call me Carpenter." With this, the creature removed himself from the alter; Judge was giving him a look that could kill! Carpenter:"I checked out the prison, and somebody's trying their damnedest to keep people out. You won't get through the gates. Luckily, I know a secret or two." With this, he turned and pressed a switch underneath the edge of the alter. The alter slid backwards about two feet, revealing a hidden staircase. The staircase lead downward into some sewers. Carpenter:"My apologies. It ain't the prettiest way, but it'll get you inside!" Carpenter began to fade away, the whole time shaking his finger like the hand of a clock. Carpenter:"[Grows fainter and fainter] Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock!"


	5. It's A Dirty Job

Defender:"I guess we have no choice but to go down." Martyr:"I guess not." The group then noticed a woman standing at a far corner of the church. Matt talked to the woman. Woman:"The little girl and her babysitter already left and went toward the train station. But, before they left I saw a woman in black leather drag my two sisters into the sewer. Please help them!" Judge:"Very well. We have work to do. Come on!" At this, the group followed Judge down into the tunnels, continuing their mission against the vile creatures of the night!

On the way down into the catacombs, the Hunters asked Matt a question, involving his powers. Judge:"How in the world did you send that Demon Bear flying that far with one punch?" Matt:"Well, having the strength of 1,000,000 men helps." All:"WHOA!" Now that they knew that they had such a powerful ally, the Hunters were at ease when they entered the catacombs underneath the church. As soon as they were underground, a bunch of rot appeared before them and started to attack. That wasn't the least of their problems; the vengeful spirits of Ashcroft Penitentiary were able to possess anything and anyone, other than a Hunter. The spirits possessed sewer rats, which made the beasts larger and stronger than any normal rat. The Hunters pulled out their ranged weapons and began to fire at the rats, while Matt was slashing his way through the rot.

After a short battle, the way was cleared, temporarily. After a few feet, they came to a "T" in the tunnel. One of the branches went to the right, while the other continued onward. Matt:"The two girls are down this way." Matt pointed down the corridor leading to the right. Martyr:"How would you know?" Matt:"God blessed me with the ability to sense the Life Force of other people. My gut tells me that we should go this way." Avenger:"Can't argue with that. Let's go."

They went down the corridor and the Hunters were forced to gun down a few more possessed rats. After taking care of business, the group went deeper into the corridor until they came to a large iron door. They could hear two teenage girls whimpering on the other side. Matt slowly opened the iron door. When the group went inside, all they could see were the two girls cowering in the corner of the round room. Suddenly, two women dressed in black leather appeared out of nowhere to attack the group! The both of the women's skins were a pale, ghostly white and two teeth were visibly longer than the rest. Defender:"Vampresses!"

Matt:"Esteban! Ever hear of the `stake a vampire' legend!" Judge:"Of course!" With that, Judge pulled out his Crossbow and shot each of the two vampresses in the chest. Instantaneously, the two women screamed with pain and disintegrated into dust. Martyr:"Hey, we should start calling you the `stake-o-matic'!" Everyone got a quick chuckle out of the joke. Following it, Judge went up to the frightened teenagers. Judge:"You're free. Return to the surface as quickly as you can. Your sister is worried." With this, they stood up and ran out of the room, screaming with fear. Defender:"Poor children. Probably so scared that they don't know where their going. Hopefully, they'll get to the train station with their sister in time." Martyr:"I hate to say it, but we have more important things to worry about."

They started to leave the room, but then they heard noises; very scary noises. They were coming from within the room, but they could see nothing. Then Matt saw a wall that looked a little lighter than the rest of the walls. Matt lightly tapped on the wall and he heard a hallow sound. Matt:"I think we know where the noises are coming from now." With that, Matt extended his Blades and slashed the wall, sending rubble everywhere. Before the others could ask him anything, Matt:"My Adamantium Blades can cut through anything, except more adamantium, just in case you were wondering."

Matt continued to hack away at the wall. The wall fell inward and crushed a few zombies in the process! Behind the wall was a tunnel filled to the rim with rot! Fortunately, there were no more vampresses within the tunnel. Matt and the Hunters charged into the fray, hacking and slashing their way through the mob of zombies. A few rats inhabited the tunnel as well, but Matt was already slashing them to pieces before they could unleash any of their toxic breath. Up ahead a little ways, two statues laid dormant. Matt and the others know better, though. As soon as they walked past the two statues, they all spun around and hacked away at the stone creatures before they even knew what hit 'em!

Avenger:"They don't know that we learned our lesson in the graveyard. No gargoyle is going to get the jump on us again!" They continued to fight their way trough rot and rats until they came to a dead end. Avenger took his axe, and swung it as hard as he could into the wall ahead. A large chunk of the wall fell forward, revealing a way out! Matt went forward and started to help Avenger with the wall. Soon, the two of them broke through and lead the others out into the catacombs.

When they reentered the catacombs, they were immediately jumped by all the rot that they didn't kill before! There were more than one hundred zombies coming from the other end of the catacomb hallway! Martyr:"Shall we?" She motioned at Avenger. With a smile he said, "After you." With Martyr in the lead, they all bum-rushed the slow moving undead. With two Fortress Beams, Matt was able to pierce through two zombies and plow down several more behind them. That alone took out twenty-five rot! The others were dealing out equal amounts of pain on the zombies. After he used Smite, Avenger continued to slash away at his enemies. Just before a zombie could attack her, Martyr activated her Retribution Edge. This edge made her invulnerable to harm, and it would reflect 3/4 of the physical harm any enemy tried to give her right back! Martyr continued to slash away with her daggers, while Defender was doing the same with her Katana. After a short, but bloody battle, the Hunters were victorious. After the fight, Defender used her Rejuvenate Edge to heal the five of them; with this, they continued deeper into the catacombs.

After moving through the catacombs a little bit, they rounded a corner and came face to face with two gargoyles! They were able to fight past the gargoyles with some effort. After killing the gargoyles, they came to a large round room. A rather traumatized man was curled up in the corner. In an instant, Matt went over to him and touched him. The man suddenly sprang to his feet and ran screaming in the opposite direction. Then, he disappeared from sight! Matt:"How in the world?" Judge:"The Messenger's White Magic transports any innocents we touch back to the **Train Station**. The engineer needs help to repair the crippled train. If he doesn't get at least fifty people to help with the work, then the train may not leave town in time to avoid the Hole's evil effect." Matt:"Then I suppose we'd better find as many of them as we possibly can."

They started to go forward, when suddenly a few rot and two vampresses appeared out of thin air! The vampresses hissed with rage at the Hunters! Unfortunately, Judge was busy battling with the rot, aided by Martyr and Defender. Matt and Avenger each go after one of the vampresses. Before entering the battle, Avenger slams his Axe on the ground, causing it to burn with Cleave's supernatural power. Matt was already engaged with one of the demonic woman. Before either of them could react, the two vampresses pulled out high powered machine guns and started firing! Matt leaped in front of Avenger, taking all of his friend's bullets. Matt then lunged forward and extended his Adamantium Blades straight in to one of the vampress's heads, decapitating it. The headless body disintegrated into dust. As for the other one, Avenger was hacking away, his powered up Axe delivering massive amounts of damage to the vampress. After only a few hacks, the woman screamed with agony and slumped to her knees; dead.

Judge:"Anyone who can kill a vampress with only a hand-hand combat weapon is most certainly skilled. Matt. Creed:Brawn. You are now a Hunter! You've been imbued by God with second sight, as have all of us, and you've put it to excellent use. You've saved our lives several times this evening and the life of a frightened little girl. For that, this is the only way I can possibly thank you." Matt was silent for a while. Matt:"I would be honored to accept such a title!" With this, the five of them had a huge group hand shake. Defender:"No matter what happens, evil shall NOT break us!" With these, powerful words, the group continued deep into the tunnel. Eventually, they came to a large iron door, which lead out of the catacombs.

Unfortunately, the scenery didn't get any better. As a matter of fact, they got worse. The iron door lead into a sewer system, crawling with the undead. Martyr:"The Messengers are trying to tell us something. Five renegade spirits are blocking the way to the upper sewer levels. The only way to open the way forward is to calm the spirits." Judge:"I believe the only way to do that, is to find the skeletal remains of these spirits and bury them for good." Defender:"Very well. Let's get started then; no telling where the bodies are."


	6. But Somebody's Gotta Do It

Matt happened to glance to the left and saw a half rotted skeleton lying against a wall. When Matt went over to it, he placed his hand on the body to bury it. Suddenly, the skeleton crumbled and a ghost emerged! The ghost promptly disintegrated. Matt:"One down, four to go." The way behind Matt was blocked by a heavy iron gate. The Hunters would have to find another route, at least until the gate was opened up.

So, the group went in the opposite direction, where they met quite a few undead fiends. After Burdening them under their sins, Judge and the rest of the Hunters killed them, sending them back to where they came from. They passed through a small gate and went down a small staircase. When they did, some rot appeared, but a few of them were different. Some of the monsters were former police guards possessed by the vengeful spirits! The cop pulled out it's pistol and started to fire at the Hunters. Matt leaped in front of the bullet and fired a Mini Necro Blade Dragon, killing the undead policeman instantly.

After trudging through a little bit of sewer water, they came to another staircase, leading upward. At the top of the steps, more ordinary rot met them. While the other Hunters took care of the rot, Matt was fighting his way toward another skeletal remain. Once he reached it, the skeleton collapsed and the ghost inside passed on in peace.

A little further down the ledge, a large switch was on the wall. Matt pressed it and suddenly, they heard a load click. Judge:"That large gate must've opened. Come on!" They all leaped from the ledge and back up the small staircase. The moment they went back through the gate, they were jumped by more rot! Matt:"Jezz! Some people never learn!" After a short, but bloody, brawl, the Hunters emerged victorious. They continued onward past the heavy iron gate into another tunnel. The tunnel spread out in to a large, open room. An iron door on the left side, another tunnel on the right, and a skeleton straight ahead. Matt went over and buried a third body, giving the spirit within tranquillity.

Next, the Hunters went through the iron door. Inside was a small open room, with two very frightened teenage girls inside. Simply by touching the women, they sprang to their feet and ran. They were immediately teleported away by the Messengers White Magic. Seeing nothing else of use within the room, the Hunters left. Afterwards, they went straight ahead into the next tunnel. When they rounded the corner, Matt was jumped by an oversized possessed alligator! The creature tried to snap at Matt repeatedly. Unfortunately for the gator, ever since Matt accepted the duties of a Hunter, he was under the protection of the Messenger's White Magic; meaning that the other Hunters couldn't harm him with their attacks anymore! Knowing this, the others pulled out their ranged weapons and fired away at the beast. After a few shots, the creature rolled off of Matt, dead as a doorknob.

Avenger:"Since when were there alligators in the sewer! I thought that was a myth." Judge:"Remember, Deuce. The vengeful spirits can be transported anywhere by the more powerful creature that controls them. Regardless of the fact that alligators don't live in sewers, the ones that fell under possession can be transported here by Dark Magic." Matt:"That explains how the zombies appear out of thin air." His question answered, Avenger nodded and lead the group deeper into the haunted tunnels of the sewer.

After traveling through the alligator's tunnel, the group made a left turn. Before doing so, they went down to the right, and found a fourth of the dead bodies. Proceeding from whence they came, they headed down the left turn of their original design. When they did, the Hunters came face to face with more of the troublesome, seemingly endless supply of vengeful spirits. This barrage of monsters was of the basic genera of rot, so there was little for the Hunters to fear. After continuing along for some time, the Hunters came upon another iron door. Without hesitation, they proceeded to go through it. Once they did, they came into a huge room. The room consisted of a bridge leading across a pool of sewer water. The water contained several rotten cops armed with pistols and three of the enormous undead alligators! Worse still, across the bridge six more pistol totting cops spawned out of nowhere! Avenger, Judge, Defender, and Martyr all pulled out their ranged weapons and started to shoot and the creatures below. As for Matt, he sent out his Dragon Chains and sent them straight for the cops across the bridge. But, even after the Chains decapitated them, these zombies just wouldn't quit! So, with another wave of his arms, the Chains swung out and sliced them horizontally along their waist. This vicious attack killed them.

Matt also soon heard the firing from the other Hunters cease, indicating that they had finished killing all of the policemen and gators. Soon, they regrouped. Judge:"That takes care of the creatures in this section of the sewers, but the door to the next section is blocked. We still need to find the fifth body." Defender:"Split up. It's probably in this room somewhere, we just need to look harder." So, the five of them separated and searched diligently. Eventually, Avenger came upon the body on a ledge, near the beginning of the bridge. With this spirit at peace, the blue barrier obstructing the way forward dissipated. With this, the Hunters continued deeper still into the sewers.

When the Hunters passed through the doorway, they received more information from the Messengers. Judge:"Ok. I've got good news and bad news." Avenger:"What's the good news?" Judge:"We're on the right path." Matt:"The bad?" Judge:"Eleven more renegade spirits are blocking the pathway forward. We'll have to find their bodies and lay their spirits to rest." Defender:"Great. We're on another bone hunt." So, with a sigh, the Hunters started to search the room for at least one pile of bones. Defender saw what they were looking for in right hand corner of the room, where they entered. Upon touching the pile of bones, the spirit emerged, then disintegrated. One down, ten to go.

Surprisingly enough, there weren't all that many rot in the room. About five tried to jump them, but they were easily destroyed. An equal number of rats appeared as well. The Hunters mercilessly shot these and put them out of their misery. From there on, there weren't any rot to face. That was, of course, until they reached the exitway. Out of thin air, two obese rot-cops appeared. These cops were armed with powerful Riot Shotguns, which turned out to be standard issue for police. The others fell back as the cops fired a volley of shells. Matt killed one with a Mini Necro Blade Dragon, but not before being hit by one of the shotgun blasts. The others returned fire, and the fat dead man faded into dust in a matter of seconds. In equal time, Matt was back on his feet, completely healed. Matt:"It appears that the rot are getting smarter. Keep your guard up."

They continued deeper into this new tunnel. The next room they came to was very similar to the previous one. However, this room contained a much greater number of rot. While Matt charged them head on, the other four attacked the rats at a distance. Once all the rats were eliminated, they helped Matt finish off the rest of the undead. With the rot out of the way, the Hunters were free to do their search. Within the boundaries of the room, they discovered two corpses. They buried the bodies and allowed the spirits to pass on. From there, the group found an exit.

Beyond the doorway, was a long corridor with no rot inside. After the corridor, they came to another large room. This room also contained a huge amount of rats and rot. Some to the rot were pistol totting cops, others still were of the obese category. All five of them charged into the fray, hacking and slashing away. They moved constantly to avoid being in the cops' line of sight. When all the ordinary rot was killed, the Hunters turned their sights toward the undead police. Two of the remaining six rot were the obese shotgun wielding police, which Matt instantly killed with a Mini Necro Blade Dragon each. The other four cops couldn't even pull out their weapons; each Hunter selected a target and fired away. The cops were stunned with each shot, preventing them from firing even once. Before leaving the room, they buried a body located in two different corners.

Five down, six to go. After climbing up some stairs, the Hunters went through a steel door. Inside the long corridor which extended from them, a few rotten zombies appeared. These were instantly destroyed; then rats showed up. With bullets and Fortress Beams, the rats were killed before they could get close to the Hunters. At the end was another thick door. Beyond that, a huge corridor extended. Tens upon tens of rats and rot appeared. Some of the rot were police; a few with pistols and a few fat ones with shotguns. New rot cops appeared among this group as well; skinny cops armed with deadly, far reaching flamethrowers! The silver lining of the situation was that there were two skeletons in plain sight! By activating her Demand Edge, Martyr was able to run at nearly fifty miles per hour into the room; she was running rings around even the quickest of the zombies. She touched the two skeletons, which disintegrated, and returned to the group, completely untouched.

Seven down, four to go. Judge:"Fire!" All of the Hunters pulled out their ranged weapons and fired away! Matt's Fortress Beams came in unlimited numbers, but the others had to reload repeatedly before the evil which threatened them could be destroyed. The Hunters were completely unharmed, and the new flamethrowing threat had been eliminated. Now all that was left was to find the remaining four bodies. After continuing onward for a little bit, they saw a side tunnel. It was split in the middle by heavy iron bars; on their side, a man cowered in fear. On the other, a dead body laid. They freed the man, but getting to the other side of the bars seemed to be at the moment impossible. Matt tried to bury the body with one of his Dragon Chains through the bars, but it didn't work. They'd have to find a way to the body and bury it by hand.

Fortunately, the corridor they were in looped around. Soon, another tunnel came into sight. Within it was the body the Hunters were searching for. Judge gave the spirit its last rights, and it passed on in tranquillity. Eight down, three to go. Luck seemed to be with the Hunters this evening; not thirty feet further into the tunnel, another body laid, waiting to be buried. The spirit got its wish soon enough. Now the Hunters only had to worry about two more bodies. Up ahead, there were two different paths; one leading through an iron gate, the other leading up a series of ledges. At Matt's suggestion they took the path leading up the ledges. At the top, three obese police officers waited. After watching the brainless cops fire harmlessly past them, they charged them and hacked them up, before they could take another shot.

A nearly invisible door caught the Hunters' eyes and they went through it. A few obese and pistol wielding cops were inside, but it was nothing that Matt and the Hunters couldn't handle. After clearing out of the room with little effort, the Hunters rescued two teenage girls from danger and buried yet another body. One more to go.

Taking their leave from the hidden room, the Hunters made their way back down the ledges and went through the iron gate. This lead into another tunnel, at the end of which fat cops waited. After putting a few revolver and pistol bullets into the fat zombies, Defender and Martyr lead the group deeper into the tunnel. At the end, ten rats, each breathing poisonous smoke, greeted them. Judge quickly said a magic prayer, and unleashed his Word of Power, annihilating the rats where they stood. When no more rot appeared, the group continued onward. Avenger:"I don't like this; it's too quiet in this tunnel." Matt:"I'll go first. I've got a bad feeling as well, Deuce."

No sooner had Matt taken four steps forward, a shotgun blast rang out. The force sent Matt flying into a wall, with several holes in his abdomen. Defender:"Oh...HELL NO!" With this, she and Avenger unleashed a flurry of bullets that decapitated the monster! Judge went over to Matt to check on him. Judge arrived just in time to see the pellets pop out of the wound, and the would seal shut. Matt:"My healing power covers any kind of injury imaginable, besides emotional injuries that is. You needn't worry." Judge and the others sighed in relief. Matt:"My Power Sensing Ability is failing me. I can only sense the rot some of the time; I suppose it's because this is a different kind of zombie than I've faced before. The zombies that I've faced previously were called **Feeders**. These zombies were fairly fresh, so most of their humanity was still with them. These _Shamblers_ as you call them are almost completely undead. I'll adjust soon, then we'll never get jumped like that again."

Matt lead the way again. It as a good thing, because Flamethrower cops appeared on both sides of the corridor and started blasting him with flames! Matt simply extended his Adamantium Blades and slashed either one, killing it by decapitation. Matt:"I was given a magical ring, known as the Safety Ring. It guards against Fire, Ice, and Lightning, whether in physical form or magical forms. The Aura, in case you were wondering, guards against Dark Magic. It may come in handy later against vampresses!" Now the Hunters knew almost the full extent of Matt's powers and gained a newfound confidence. The way into the Courtyard of the Penitentiary was still blocked by one soul, but the body it possessed was right beside the latter! After burying it, the blue barrier disappeared. The group climbed up the latter and entered the very source of all the problems in Ashcroft: The Prison!


	7. Prison Break

Soon after reaching the top of the latter, the Hunters looked up to see a poster. The Poster read:"Anniversary Rave. 7:00 PM $5." Martyr:"Well, if that poster reads right, then we're in!" How right she was; no sooner had the group taken but a few steps, a multitude of obese rot cops and zombified rotwhiler dogs started to appear! The dogs were particularly annoying, due to the fact that they were trained to relentlessly attack a criminal, should they be stupid enough to attack an officer. Well, it seemed that the Hunters were five of those stupid criminals, at least as far as the zombie dogs were concerned. Worst of all, they were _hungry_!

The only upside to this new situation was that the dogs played dead again with just one swing of Avenger's Axe, or a single slash from Matt's Blades. After humbling a few of the dogs, the Hunters went straight for the cops. After unloading round after round of ammunition into the undead cops, the Hunters pushed forward, deeper into the courtyard. The deeper they went, however, the more dogs that appeared. Some of these were able to be taken out at a distance; for others, the Hunters had to risk being bitten by the ravenous beasts.

A fairly large distance away, they saw five obese policemen standing next to two large canisters of fuel. Matt fired a Fortress Beam at one of the cops, while the Hunters fired at the canisters. The beam pierced through a cop and hit a canister just as the bullets hit the other. The ensuing explosion was quite large and sent zombie guts flying in all directions along the courtyard! Defender:"I've heard of going to pieces, but this is ridiculous!" The others would have smiled, had they not spotted another shotgun wielding zombie a few yards away. The cop had pistol totting reinforcements as well; lots of them. Matt:"Guys! Keep those things distracted! I've got an idea!" Matt ran away towards a fenced off area. In front of said fenced off area, was a prison bus. With a small grunt, Matt heaved the bus over his head and gave it a toss. The bus flew forward and ripped off the upper halves of all fifty of the gun totting zombies. In amongst the blood, was a silver key. Judge:"That key must be for a door within that fenced off portion of the courtyard. Come on!"

Behind where the bus sat originally, an entrance to the fenced off overpass opened widely. Inside was another cop, but the Hunters killed him quickly. After Judge used the key to access the next section of the courtyard, several zombies appeared. But, these were different somehow. These rot were virtually indistinguishable from the teenagers that the Hunters had saved! As it turned out, the vengeful sprits of Ashcroft Penitentiary had possessed some of the ravers. Worse still, this genera of rot was even more relentless than any of the others!

But even these rot were no match for the Hunters. Matt's Mini Necro Blade Dragons were having a feast, and the others were shooting anything within range. As the Hunters got nearer to the stage, they could hear loud music. Matt could also sense the Life Force of two innocent teenage girls, who sat frightened out of their wits in the middle of the stage. The scene which spread out before them was, as far as they could perceive, all of their friends had gone completely insane and five people, who were crazier still, were hacking them up like animals in a butcher shop!

When the Hunters finally reached the stage, several vampresses and fat cops appeared on the stage, not to mention several more of the raver zombies that accompanied them. Matt quickly freed the girls, who were promptly teleported to the Train Station, where they would be safe. Judge used his Crossbow on all the vampresses he saw, and quickly killed the vast majority of them. Avenger cast the spell of Smite, which obliterated every zombie within a five foot radius of him! As for the rest of them, they took care of everything on the left side of the stage, hacking anything that had even a small amount of decay to it. After this vicious battle, Defender Rejuvenated everybody. Before continuing through they massive iron doors, which lead to the Meal Hall, the Hunters checked the surrounding area for more zombies to come. After waiting for thirty seconds, the group headed into the next section of the evil prison!

Inside the Meal Hall, it was semi-barren; there was nothing but a few tables and a couple of ramps, leading to watch balconies. That was it, except for the raver zombies, cops, and zombie rotweihlers. They came in nearly incessant numbers, but the Hunters managed to triumph over the ravers. Upon the defeat of about fifty, none continued to appear in that area, so they pressed forward. After traveling about twenty feet from the entrance, fat cops appeared, though in minimal numbers. There were only four of them. Because they were undead, their reflexes were quite slow. Thus, the Hunters were able to overtake them before they could react to their presence. However, after these were destroyed, five more took their places!

Unfortunately for the Hunters, this group was ready to fight. The rot cops seemed intent on attacking Matt, so the others were able to attack without fear of being filled full of lead. Matt:"[Inner] Why do I get the feeling that the rot want me dead more than the others?" Matt healed up and didn't think anything else of it. There were more cops in the room on top of the watch balconies. These cops were hit with beams and bullets, and fell quickly. Inside of a broadcasting booth, two fat rot cops stood waiting. Whether the cops' decayed brains could figure out that they could be seen through the glass or not, none of the Hunters knew. All that they did know was that these cops were waiting for them. So, the Hunters got the drop on the police by leaping off of a balcony just in front of the entrance, and dive-bombed them! After landing on one of their heads, Avenger decapitated the other one, killing it. The one he had smashed was killed on impact; his head had been smashed inward.

As the Hunters continued toward the right side of the room, a pack of rotweilers stood in their way. The group shot as many as they could, but when the few that remained reached them, the Hunters were forced to engage their canine foes in hand-to-hand combat. As if this wasn't enough, more raver zombies were appearing as well. Worst of all, a couple of pistol rot cops were on a watch balcony on that side of the room. Matt used his Dragon Chains to decapitate one of them and cling to the wall directly behind the cop. The Chain pulled Matt up to the balcony; Matt's leg knocked off the heads of a few ravers and the head of a fat cop that took the pistol cop's place. Once he was on the balcony with the other rot cop, Matt extended his blades and killed him.

Meanwhile, the others had finished killing off the dogs and moved on to the ravers. These were smarter than the average zombie, but still no match for the Hunters! Though they suffered a few scratches, the group was victorious over this first wave of zombies! After Matt leaped from the balcony, they continued to look around the room for more foes. When none appeared, the Hunters discovered that the only way forward was through the kitchen. So, after jumping over the serving line, the Hunters passed though a gate, which lead into the cooking area.

After passing through a gate, the Hunters came upon more raver zombies. A few dogs accompanied them as well. The zombies were a simple matter, but the dogs were rather agile for being dead. The zombies headed for the original Hunters, but the dogs targeted Matt. With his amazing speed, Matt was able to cut down the dogs one by one as they tried to leap at him. The Hunters were able to do the same with the slow, dim-witted zombies. After they hacked through this group, they continued toward the end of the room. There were two doors leading out of the kitchen, and neither one was bound to be very inviting. Matt:"I sense human Life Force beyond this door." He motioned toward the door straight back.

When they went inside, there was a man cowering in the corner. Of course, there were a few cops and the original rot made an appearance. The original rot was very easily destroyed and the cops received equal treatment, though in the form of ammunition. The instant that Matt touched the horrified man, he sprang to his feet and ran towards the door; he was teleported away to the Train Station immediately afterwards. Suddenly out of nowhere a large Fleshcraft monster with horns on its head appeared! However, with a round of bullets from every Hunter and a Beam from Matt, the creature died before it could cause any harm. From within the monster's body emerged a key. Judge:"I suppose this is for the other exitway from the kitchen." After they Hunters left the storage closet, they made a left and went toward the other door. Judge used the key, and the door swung wide open.

The room that the Hunters had entered was nothing less than a gigantic meat freezer. Inside Fleshcraft monsters made from mutated bovine skin sprang to life and attacked! The usual assortment of cops made an appearance as well. The Hunters targeted the cops first. After gunning down the minor threat, they turned toward the bigger one. These creatures could spew an acidic vomit that was so deadly, it could melt a human to the bones in a matter or seconds! Almost as deadly were the spikes they could fire from their bodies and they were much stronger than any normal man as well! The situation would've been bad for the Hunters had Matt not've been there. Matt:"Necro Blade Dragon!" The group watched as a green orb formed in Matt's cupped hands. When he launched his hands forward, a bright green dragon surged forward and instantly killed all that it hit! By moving his hands left and right, Matt was able to turn this horribly bad situation into an easily solved one!

Once all the Fleshcraft were laying in green flames, Martyr started to scream in hysteria at Matt. Martyr:"I thought you said that could only kill the undead instantly!" Matt:"True, but against anything else the Dragon possesses the condensed power of 25 atomic bombs. Only the most resilient of enemies can survive it." In the back of his mind, Matt had suspicions that Martyr didn't trust him completely. Why exactly, he didn't know; perhaps it was from jealousy or perhaps even fear of his appearance. But regardless, Matt had to accept this as fact and put it behind him. Even if she didn't like him, he would protect her if he had to. With the Fleshcraft monsters no longer in their path, the Hunters were free to press onward.

Immediately after exiting the freezer, a dozen cops, a large pack of dogs, and another of the freaky horned Fleshcraft monsters greeted them! Matt immediately impaled the Fleshcraft, and simultaneously decapitated a few of the dogs. The dogs continually bum rushed Matt, leaving the others to take out the cops. The cops were easily killed, due to the fact that their undead brains couldn't comprehend the distance very well and were firing harmlessly into the stairwell beneath them. Just before the exit, one last obese policeman appeared. No sooner had the fat deadman cocked his shotgun, he got a Beam, an arrow, and four bullets to his chest. He died before he knew what hit him. With this, the Hunters followed the passageway into the secondary courtyard of the prison.

The secondary courtyard was just as barren as the first. Well, except for the seemingly endless supply of raver zombies. While the other four fired at the dogs and rot cops below, Matt explored the upper catwalks. A fallen catwalk lead up to the others, making it easily accessible. At the top of the first ramp, Matt impaled a cop, followed by another at the peak of a second ramp. With these two out of the way, Matt only had to cross the catwalk above the ground. At the end of the path, a rot cop was there to welcome him. Matt returned the invitation by giving the evil zombie a one way ticket to hell. Further down the path, three flamethrower cops appeared. Matt fired a Fortress Beam at the on in front, which caused his napalm tank to combust. This unexpected chain reaction caused all three of the cops to explode, sending zombie guts everywhere! Matt stood there in shock for a moment, but than ran back to the other side of the balcony to check on the others.

The other Hunters were holding their own against the army before them. With their limitless ammo, the Hunters were able to take out almost all of their foes at a distance. They took out the dogs first, because they were more agile and could do more physical damage than the almost brainless obese police. So, after several reloads, the Hunters were down to just one fat cop. That's when Matt leaped from the balcony and performed a _Devastating Piledriver_ on the porky porker. Matt landed square on his head and smashed him flat; Matt on the other hand, suffered no damage at all. Matt:"Thanks for breaking my fall, Fat Boy. Come on, lets go." Matt motioned toward a gate just behind him and they proceeded further into the courtyard.

A lot more cops appeared on the other side of the gate, most of them were totting pistols, but a few plumper ones were wielding shotguns. To top it off, they had their usual army of ever faithful Rotwhilers. The Hunters counter attacked as best they could, shooting at any dogs that got close, while engaging the deadmen in hand-to-hand combat. The next corridor seemed clear, except for unused, rusted weights and bench presses. That's went a lone flamethrower cop appeared, along with huge, six and a half foot, burly prisoners. Matt and Avenger took on the burly dead guys, while the other three fired away at the flamethrower, and a few of his comrades which appeared to replace him.

Matt picked up a bench-press bar and started using it as a gigantic baseball bat of sorts, swinging away and clubbing any dead man foolish enough to get within his range. One in particular was a real tough guy; Matt decapitated him, but he still kept coming. Matt swung again, this time taking off the zombie's torso. But, the zombie's _legs_ continued to try and reach Matt! Matt:"Some people never learn; I guess that goes for zombies to!" With a vertical swing, Matt spit the legs apart, and the zombie finally died.

After this small series of challenges, the Hunters were victorious, and continued onward. That's when they saw a teenage girl standing there, completely unafraid. When they went up to her, she said, "My friend is trapped on the basketball courts. Please, don't let them kill her." As the group pressed on, Matt:"What was that?" Judge:"Some people who are `imbued' do not receive any Edges to fight the evil with; they are given second sight, but cannot fight." The basketball court was only a stone's throw away, and it was crawling with rot. The innocent girl was cowering in a far corner of the court. The Hunters hacked and slashed all the zombies that got in their way, but more continued to come out of thin air! Matt had the easiest time fighting toward the girl because of his Blades. The found the girl and she was teleported away from harm.

All that was left now was the clear out the basketball court and head through one last iron gate. This the Hunters did with relative ease; the inmates and burly prisoners were slow and dumb, unlike the dogs, so they were simple to defeat. After exiting the basketball court, the Hunters made a left and headed straight for a huge iron gate. A pair of gargoyles greeted them at the gate. These beasts were different than any of the ones they had faced before; instead of glowing blue, these were glowing red, signifying greater power. Although these possessed far greater offensive abilities, their defensive abilities were equal to their blue brothers', making for another simple kill for the Hunters. Matt decapitated his stone adversary and won instantly, while Judge used Word of Power and obliterated the other. With nothing else standing in their way, the Hunters went through the iron gate.


	8. Mansion Of Madness

After the group passed through the iron gate, the Warden's living quarters could be seen in the distance. Avenger:"Those aren't living quarters; that's a damn mansion!" Avenger's disgust at how pampered the Warden was compared to everybody else was obvious. Danger seemed to be around every corner; there were "Whiptrees", vines composed of dark energy, and several dogs everywhere they looked. The vines tried to whip the Hunters as they passed, but they were out of its reach. Matt saw several more in the distance, and a Fortress Beam to each one sent them squirming back underground. The Hunters, on the other hand, targeted the dogs that were charging at them.

After fighting past several of the dogs, the Hunters came to the front doors of the Warden's mansion. No sooner had they reached the doors, then two vampresses appeared out of thin air. With a few flaming Cleave slashes, Avenger takes one out in no time. Judge takes the other out by an even faster method; by firing a crossbow bolt into the vampress's chest, Judge killed the beast instantly. Both monsters disappeared into dust upon their defeat.

A small distance to the left of the entrance, the Hunters spotted a miniature graveyard, comprised of three graves. A vampress had no intention of letting the Hunters get a closer look, but her efforts to kill the group were in vain. With her out of the way, Judge took a closer look at the graves. They all had the last name of "Degenhardt" carved into them. Judge:"These must be the graves of the Warden's family. Sad story. I'd heard something terrible had befallen them." Martyr:"Hey hold on a second. Look at the date. It's in 1926! If this is the Warden's family and he's alive now, he'd have to be more than 100 years old!" Avenger:"Hey, she's right. You don't suppose that the Warden is creating all of these vampresses we've been fighting do you?" Although they had more questions running through their minds, the Hunters had a valuable clue on the mysterious Ashcroft affair. In addition, the vampress they had just killed had the key to the mansion in her possession. After returning to the entrance, they unlocked the doors and went inside.

Inside, the group encounters a couple of vampresses, a Whip, and two pistol cops. Matt killed the Whip instantly with a slash of his Blades, while Avenger and Judge destroyed the cops. The two ladies entered combat with their blood-sucking counterparts. By activating Retribution, Martyr became invulnerable to physical damage, and thus was able to defeat her foe with relative ease. Defender defeated the vampress she was battling with equal ease; her Katana was extremely sharp and Defender was able to decapitate the monster. With this group of enemies dispatched, the Hunters went upstairs and further into the haunted mansion.

Once upstairs, they wandered the hallway until they found an unlocked door at the far end. Inside several vampresses and a lone fat cop awaited them. By casting Smite, Avenger was able to eliminate the cop and one of the vampiric women before they could do any harm. Avenger was also able to damage the other monsters as well. With a couple of hacks, the remainder of enemies was vanquished and a key was discovered. Just before they left, Matt saw the glow of an illuminated computer screen. Out of curiosity, Matt went over to the screen. Matt:"Guys! Look at this!" Matt pointed at the screen, which displayed a draft of the Rave Invitations! Martyr:"Do you suppose the Warden received this in an e-mail?" Matt:"Somehow, I doubt it. But, why would the Warden want to sent out invitations to the Rave, knowing that the rot would reawaken?"

With this thought pounding in their minds, the Hunters left the room and headed further down the hall. The second door at the other end of the hallway was unlocked by the key the group had discovered. A few flamethrower cops and three vampresses laid in wait. The cops unleashed a wave of flames, which unintentionally caught the vampresses on fire and killed them semi-automatically! A few bullets later, the cops were destroyed. All that remain in the room was an innocent man. After the Hunters rescued him, they picked up the key the cop dropped and left the room.

The next area that could be unlocked was a few doors down. When the Hunters went inside to discover they were in the master bedroom, which was currently occupied by three vampresses and two shotgun cops. Judge fired crossbow bolts at the first vampress he saw and Avenger charged at another, while the girls attacked the third vampress. Matt, on the other hand, had his own hands full with the police that kept appearing. He would eliminate one police officer and another would appear right in its place! Eventually, however, Matt outlasted the police and no more reappeared. The vampresses fell dead as well, and the Hunters left the room with a silver key in hand.

The next room was at the polar opposite end of the hallway. Once there, Avenger inserted the key in the lock and kicked the door open forcefully. The room had a portrait of the Warden and his family, a large fireplace, and a huge glass window, leading out onto a balcony. There was, however, no fiends to defeat. Defender:"Something's not right here..." Suddenly, three vampresses appear out of thin air! Wasting no time, Avenger reaches for his axe and slashes one of them across the chest, and a puddle of red blood spills on the ground; the vampress hisses with pain and rage.

To make matters worse, a small army of Shotgun cops appear in the corner of the room. Judge and Defender went to deal with them while the other three dealt with the vampire problem. Martyr activates Demand, allowing her to match the vampress's speed. However, after just a couple of hacks from Martyr's daggers, the vampress ends the battle by kicking Martyr in the stomach. The force from the kick sends Martyr flying through the window and flipping over the balcony! The vampress disappeared without a trace, with an evil grin.

Fortunately for her, Avenger finished killing the vampress he was battling and ran to her rescue. Martyr had managed to grab an outstretched ledge just below the balcony. To make matters worse, a pack of very hungry looking zombie dogs were waiting for her to fall down below! Avenger leaned over the balcony as Martyr shouted, "Hurry! I won't be able to hold on much longer!" Avenger stretched as far as he could without losing his footing, but fell short of Martyr's grip. Thinking quickly, Avenger grabs his axe and extends the handle down to Martyr. Avenger:"Grab hold!"

Meanwhile, Matt his battling with the third and final vampress. While he is blocking all the blows that she delivers, Matt's Power Sensing Ability senses Martyr's plight. So, after a quick dodge, Matt delivers a lethal slash and runs toward the balcony. Matt reacted just in time; just as she was going to grab Avenger's axe, Martyr lost her grip with her other hand and began to plummet towards the starving zombie dogs! Avenger:"Oh, nooooo!" Less than a second later, Matt leaped over Avenger's head and off of the balcony! Avenger:"Are you insane!" From there, Avenger stood back from the balcony, completely stunned.

He, however, had nothing to worry about at all. Matt's cape extended to its full length of forty feet and he started flying down the building after Martyr at 200 mph! Matt swooped down and caught Martyr in the air, just before the dogs were able to leap up and grab a bite. Matt looped around the yard and returned to the balcony with Martyr in his arms.

Soon, Judge and Defender finished destroying the multitude of rot cops that appeared. Upon doing so, they ran over to Avenger, who stood in complete shock. Judge:"Deuce! What happened!" Avenger couldn't speak right away; despite their sixteen year age difference, Avenger and Martyr were rather close. Finally, however, Avenger said, "Kassandra fell to her doom in a pack of rotting rotweilers and Matt probably died as well when he leaped down to save her!" Judge:"My God!"

The group was extremely disheartened by this news, but felt compelled to put it aside and continue on their quest. They wondered back inside, but turned when they heard footsteps on the balcony. They discovered Matt, with his cape still at full length, holding Martyr! Matt put Martyr down and his cape went back to its normal length. Martyr ran over to Avenger and the two embraced with joy. As Avenger stood looking at Matt in awe, all he could utter was, "You can fly?" Matt answered him, clam as ever; Matt:"Yes. It's one of my most useful abilities."

Martyr:"Hey, Matt, weren't you fighting a vampress as well?" Matt:"Yeah, I decapitated her just before I ran over to save you." Martyr:"Then, what ever happened to the one that I was fighting." Judge:"Neither I nor Samantha defeated any vampresses." Avenger:"I only killed the one before I tried to help you." Matt:"Yeah. Then where is that vampiric bitch?" No sooner had Matt finished, then the vampress Martyr was fighting dropped from the ceiling and bit Matt right in the neck! Matt:"Aaaaahhhhh!" Instantaneously, Matt extended his Blades and pierced them straight through her head, cutting it off.

Judge:"My God! He's been bitten!" Matt:"Now I know why those rotten dogs were going after me; whomever is controlling those vampresses wanted to see what kind of power I had..." Defender:"And then make you its brother." Matt:"Well, that's not going to happen, at least not for a while. I've already got a strong resistance to Zombie Bacteria; how different can that and Vampire Venom be?" Matt was trying to be calm, but he knew that before this night was over, he'd truly be a demon! But, for the moment, he and the Hunters had bigger things to worry about. So, after collecting the key, Matt lead the Hunters out of the room and down the hall. When they reached a huge set of double doors, Judge inserted the key into the lock, and the group went into the Warden's study.

Inside, they saw an elderly looking gentleman of average height staring out the window. This elderly man was the Warden of Ashcroft Penitentiary. He heard his door open and without turning he started to speak to the Hunters, not giving Matt a moment's notice. Warden:"Get out of our home! You've spilled enough blood in here; leave me be." Judge:"Degenhardt, do you have any clues as to how we stop this madness?" Warden:"You were here when Arkady was...executed, just as I was. He's still there, haunting Death Row. I can't get anywhere near him or do anything about it. He's your link. Now, go!"

The offer was tempting, however, the Hunters noticed that the Warden didn't have a reflection in the window; an immediate signal to the experienced Hunter of a vampire! Avenger:"Can't do that. Too many of you parasites running around as it is. We're not leaving any behind." Avenger took aim and the others soon followed his lead. All of the Hunters fired a shot at the Warden. However, the old man was much more willy than they expected. At the last possible instant, the Warden moved out of the way! He "slid" across the floor and appeared in front of Avenger. Avenger took a couple steps back out of surprise. The Warden didn't seem angry that he was fired upon at all. He continued in a rather calm tone; Warden:"You don't seem to understand. _They_ came in here, _they_ killed my family, _they_ made me into this...thing. I didn't want it, I didn't ask for it, I HAD NO CHOICE! I have...nothing...left to lose." Then with a sinister glare, the old man added, "Welcome to eternity!"

The Warden darts back to the center of the room and the Hunters charge after him. The Hunters began to hack and slash the vampiric Warden repeatedly. Matt didn't follow, since the Hunters were crowding the Warden so much he wouldn't be able to get through anyway. Soon, the Warden changed his left hand into one of the whips, and slammed the Hunters back in all directions. He lashed it outward again towards Defender, where it was wrapped up by a Dragon Chain! Matt:"Two can play at that game, old man!" Matt called back his Chain; upon doing so, the Warden lashed out again, this time straight at Matt. Matt caught the whip in his left hand and gave a mighty yank. With this powerful pull, the Warden reeled forward, straight into Matt's huge fist!

The incensing blow was anything but pleasant for the old vampire. The Warden sailed across the room, smashing into a large pillar that supported the ceiling. As the old man staggered to his feet, the Hunters regrouped near Matt. At the distance, the group could see the Warden's eyes literally flare blood-red flames of rage. The Warden raised his hands above his head and a huge, inescapable wave of blackness surged towards the Hunters! Thinking quickly, Matt extended his cape and surrounded himself and the Hunters with it. The tidal wave of power smacked straight into the shielded group, but did no damage. Matt condensed his cape and looked at the Warden, with a smile inside. Matt:"[Inner] I figured as much; Dark Magic! [Audible] Sorry, Warden. I've got anti-Dark Magic protection in my Holy Aura!"

After the failed attack, Avenger activated Cleave. Avenger:"Alright, let's see how ol' vampy over there likes playing with fire!" As Avenger charged the Warden, axe ablaze, Defender and Martyr followed him. All of them started to slash away at the old Warden, while Judge fired crossbow bolts and Matt let loose Fortress Beams. The Beams and bolts were passing straight through the other Hunters thanks to the White Magic, and Avenger's flaming axe was doing more damage than any of the other weapons. The Warden tried his whip a few more times, but each time, Avenger slashed it apart before it could do any harm.

Eventually, the Warden "slid" across the floor away from his attackers, faster than the human eye could see; but, Brawn wasn't exactly human. Matt was able to see the Warden moving towards him and stopped firing Fortress Beams. Matt:"Necro Blade Dragon!" As a green orb formed in Matt's hands, he shouted, "Eat Necroplasm, old man!" Matt released the blast when the Warden was only two feet away from him. The force from the blast sent the Warden flying backwards into another pillar, leaving an imprint of the man was he fell to the ground. He had just gotten to his feet when Avenger gave one final flaming hack before the Edge wore off. That was the finishing blow against the old vampire. Warden:"Gaaaahhh! Oooohhhh! Ack! Grah!" After screaming and writhing in agony, the old Warden collapsed on the ground. Without another word, the Hunters freed an innocent in the Warden's study and left the room, the dead Warden still laying on the floor.


	9. Hunters On The Roof

No more enemies were infesting the mansion, so leaving the building was a simple matter. When they got outside, however, a vampress and the pack of dogs that wanted to eat Martyr were waiting for them. The vampress went down with one crossbow bolt, but the dogs took more time to take care of; they were, however, easily defeated. After dodging a few of the whips and saving an innocent, Matt and the Hunters reached the gate to the Warden's mansion and left the grounds.

Back in the prison compound, the Messengers conferred to the Hunters that they needed to find the entrance to Death Row. By doing so, they would be lead to Arkady, and if they defeated him, this madness would end. There were, however, quite a few cops that didn't want the Hunters to reach Death Row; and all of them had shotguns. Judge activated Word of Power, and wiped out most of the bunch, but two flamethrower cops came to replace those that fell. A Fortress Beam to the head took care of one of them, and the other was decapitated by Avenger's back swing. After sheading a lot of blood on the complex's grounds, they discovered a key. The key unlocked the gate to Death Row and the Hunters pressed onward.

Beyond the gate to Death Row, there was a large series of catwalks. The catwalks were elevated bridges leading from one building to the next in the compound. The first building the Hunters came to was the psychiatric ward. The zombies that appeared were those of ordinary prisoners in yellow, but now there were psychopathic zombies in green as well! The Hunters charged into the fray, hacking away at the undead. Eventually, the zombie prisoners fell dead once again. When they started to move ahead, Matt suddenly said, "I _know_ how to deal with psychopaths, because all of my friends are nuts!"

The Hunters tried to smile, but they were worried about the vampire bite wound that Matt had received earlier; despite Matt's ability to heal, the injury still wasn't repaired. Judge lead the group ahead to the right, across more catwalks. Matt stayed behind and searched for more zombies on the previous rooftop. When he didn't find any, he flew to catch up with the rest of the group. After continuing along the catwalk a ways, they discovered a human standing at the corner. When they went up to her she said, "A large group of women in black leather took prisoners further along these catwalks. Please save them."

No sooner had the woman finished speaking, vampresses appeared out of thin air! Matt:"Speaking of women in black leather..." Without a second's hesitation, Matt unleashed a Mini Necro Blade Dragon straight through one of the vampress's chests. A crossbow bolt instantly killed another. The third was fulled full of lead by the other three Hunters. Despite her resistance to bullets, the intense barrage eventually killed the vampress. Now that this catwalk was clear, the Hunters walked until they reached the end; at the end of the catwalk, the roof to the Holding Cells and the Infirmary began.

The group continued along the catwalk, in a straight forward motion. A massive amount of prison rot and psycho rot got in their way. Matt charged in with Blades extended and started hacking up the rot. Once he had plowed through to the other side, he released a Mini Necro Blade Dragon that pierced through a row of twenty rot. The formerly daunting force of 100 was reduced to a mere fifty. The other Hunters joined in and continued what Matt started, hacking every rot they came across until the last one fell.

They continued in this manner until they reached the end of the roof; that's where things started to get really crazy. Vampresses were dropping from the sky by the dozens and red Gargoyles were appearing at the same rate! To top it all of, dozens of psycho and prison rot were appearing as well! Avenger:"Oh, what the hell's goin' on?"

Matt extended his Blades and his Dragon Chains, using them as 150 foot long whips while his Blades did the hand-to-hand work. The other Hunters did what they did best; Judge prayed and unleashed the Word of Power, killing all the rot in the 16 foot range of the blast. Defender's Ward did damage to the enemies while forming a 16-foot radial barrier around the others. Martyr's Retribution made her immune to the physical harm being done to her while she counter attacked, and Avenger cast Smite, unleashing the powerful radial attack on his enemies. The blast sent further away enemies flying off the roof to their doom while those closer to Avenger combusted and disintegrated into dust. Matt was doing extreme amounts of damage with his Blades and his Chains were whipping all the vampresses and zombies within the range; the zombies were being decapitated and split in half with ease, thus their deaths were quick.

None of the Hunters escaped this battle without any wounds; the mortal Hunters were near death and completely exhausted. Matt, on the other hand, healed up his wounds quickly and his Healing Factor gave him nearly limitless energy. Seeing that the others weren't so lucky, Matt cut himself and used his **Blood Trick** on the other four. Almost instantly, all of their wounds healed and they were invigorated anew. After thanking Matt for his aid, Judge lead the group back towards where the roof connected, with a silver key in hand. After making it back to the Holding Cells roof, Judge made a right, towards a gate. The gate was guarded by three flamethrower cops, but these were eliminated quickly with a pair of Mini Necro Blade Dragon blasts. The initial two went to the corners of the gate and met in the middle, where the third stood. With no further obstacles in the way, Judge unlocked the gate and the Hunters pressed onward to another moonlit rooftop!

The new roof appeared to be completely empty, but Matt's heightened senses told him different. Once they reached the middle of the roof, another army of rot, vampresses, and gargoyles appeared. This army was nowhere near as large as the previous one, but the Hunters were not ready for another long battle just yet! Matt knew it, and so he decided to end the battle before it ever began. Matt:"Necro Blade Dragon!" The green beast surged forward and eliminated every monster that it came into contact with, either through its potency of 25 atomic bombs or the anti-undead power it possessed. After using his power, Matt winced a little; he showed no emotion but Matt knew what was going on: the venom was starting to affect his will to fight!

In the middle of the pool of blood that formed, they saw a silver key. Nothing else of use appeared to be on the rooftop, so the group headed back towards the `crossroad'. The group went straight this time, heading towards the last section of rooftop there was. Matt:"The prisoners are just ahead. I can sense them and a few of those freakin' vampresses. If we're going to save all eight, we'll have to hurry. Alright, I'll fly ahead, you guys catch up." Matt did as he said he would. He flew ahead towards the captives. He was flying so fast that by the time the vampresses knew he was there, Matt had freed the captives and extended his Blades, ready to fight to the death.

Matt's wound festered intensely when he was surrounded, so he was glad when he saw a vampress get hit with a crossbow bolt. The pain was intense, but Matt didn't back down; he killed any vampress that got close enough to him to be killed with a slash of his Blades. The others fired bullets and arrows at the vampresses to kill them. Eventually, this battle ended in the Hunters' favor and the vampresses dropped a silver key, which lead into the bowels of the prison. The group headed back to the "crossroad" and they saw a stairwell exit. After using the key on the door, the group descended into the higher floors of the prison!


	10. Jailhouse Rock

After the group descended the staircase, they came to the beginnings of the holding cells. At first it seemed like an office building; there were chairs that sat in front of the visiting rooms. Within this room, the Hunters encountered ghosts. These ghosts were different, however, resembling men that were hanged. These new ghosts were also much more stubborn to die. But, they were still no match for the Hunters. The group slashed away at these new spirits and, as with their smaller graveyard-counterparts, the ghosts were destroyed with just three attacks.

After a short battle, the Hunters went through a doorway, on the other side of the desks. They came to a huge cellblock; unfortunately the path forward was blocked off by huge boulders and a long drop to the next floor. But, Matt found another solution. A celldoor was unlocked, allowing the Hunters to get inside. All the walls of subsequent cells were destroyed, creating a long tunnel for the Hunters to pass through. Passage through the tunnel, of course, wasn't easy. Reason being, it was filled to the rim with prisoner rot and ghosts.

Always up for a good fight, the Hunters charged into the fray, hacking at anything that looked even remotely dead. Mini Necro Blade Dragons took care of large groups of ghosts, while the Hunters relied on hand-to-hand combat to kill the zombies in their path. Eventually, after receiving a couple of scratches, the Hunters emerged from the tunnel victoriously. When they reached the exit, they saw a few pistol cops waiting for them. The Hunters unloaded their bullets into the poor creatures and continued forward towards an exit.

That's when things got really weird; several Skitters appeared and one of the gigantic Fleshcraft monsters that the Hunters faced in the schoolyard, leaped from a higher perch and landed with a thud. Defender:"I knew this was going too smoothly!" The Hunters took care of the Skitters and Matt faced off against the Fleshcraft monster. Matt extended his Blades and pierced through the creature's tough hide. After inflicting three pierce wounds to the creature's torso, Matt uppercutted the creature over a balcony, sending it plummeting down several floors. Matt:"He won't be bothering us again, not for a while at least. Come on, we've got to keep moving. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but the venom is starting to get to me." With a quick nod, the other Hunters followed Matt down a long staircase, deeper into the bowels of the Holding Cells.

At the bottom of the stairwell, they were greeted by three flamethrower cops. Matt charged without fear, due to his Safety Ring. The others fired bullets at the cops, staying as far back as possible from the flames. The three cops died almost as quickly as they appeared. The group veered left and went through a gate. They came to a huge room with several holding cells. These cells had innocents in them!

Avenger activated a switch, unlocking all the celldoors. From there, the group went from one cell to the next, saving any innocents within them. Unfortunately, the innocents weren't the only things in the room. Hanged ghosts inhabited the cells, regular and burly prisoner rot were marching towards the Hunters by the dozens! Matt:"You guys get the prisoners, I'll hold off the zombie brigade." Matt charged into the mashpit of rot, hacking and slashing the zombies. He also extended his Dragon Chains and used them as whips. These alone took out several dozen zombies at once. The others were quickly destroying the hanged ghosts and pressing onto the next cell as quickly as they'd entered the last one. Eventually, after Matt killed about 300 zombies and the Hunters had inspected all 10 cells, the group continued forward towards a stairwell. That's when Matt sensed the Life Force of a human. Matt:"Hold on, guys. I sense Life Force beyond this doorway. We've got to save whomever is in there before we continue onward."

So, the group entered the room, which happened to be one of the prison's shower rooms. They saw an innocent young man cowering below a broken spicate of water. Just after the Hunters had freed him, a small group of rot cops and hanged ghosts appeared. The ghosts unleashed an ultra-sonic scream of agony that crippled the Hunters temporarily. As soon as his scenes returned, Matt unleashed a Mini Necro Blade Dragon that killed the hanged ghosts. The others decapitated the cops, and they died just as quickly as they had appeared. There were no more enemies appearing, so the group followed Matt out of the shower and down the staircase.

Beyond the staircase was the prison infirmary. This was, however, anything but a pleasant environment. Hundreds of Fleshcraft monsters were lurking everywhere they turned and to make matters worse, psycho rot were appearing as well. Most of the Fleshcraft were ravers, mutated by a mad and evil vampiric doctor, named Hadrian. Others were grotesque, hideous creatures that had razors for eyebrows, which they would use to attack. Even worse yet, the Skitters returned!

Matt:"Sheesh! I know we're dealing with pissed off convicts from 134 years ago, but come on! How many people could've gotten life sentences in one prison!" Defender:"I don't think half of these poor people were supposed to have life in prison. The Warden probably pulled a few strings to keep them here, to be used as `cattle' as Carpenter put it." Avenger cast Smite to get the ghouls off of their backs for a little bit, but the break didn't last long. Psycho rot were coming from all corners of the room. The Hunters went through a gate and closed it behind them, temporarily keeping them from harm.

Alas, even this freedom didn't last more than a few moments; as Matt walked forward, a Skitter leaped from the ceiling and self-destructed on him! Matt's Adamantium bones were revealed for a few moments before the huge wound sealed. Matt:"I always did hate those things." Matt winced in pain for a moment; although the huge wound from the explosion healed, his bite wound did not. As the group pressed on, dozens of Skitters started to drop from the ceiling! Judge and the other Hunters almost couldn't reload fast enough for the great barrages. Fortunately, Matt's Fortress beams came in unlimited quantities, so he fired relentlessly until the Hunters reloaded and the Skitters stopped appearing. They rounded a corner and discovered some more Skitters. The Hunters fired and got a few of them to kill each other with the tiny explosions left behind.

Eventually, the Hunters were able to reach a large room at the end of the hall, within which was an innocent girl. They freed the girl and headed back in the opposite direction, only to discover rot and Skitters in their path. Martyr:"These things just don't quit, do they?" A Word of Power took care of the problem. With the path clear, the Hunters headed back to the main hall. They discovered that Skitters were blocking the doorway from the other side. Matt sneaked a Dragon Chain through the bars on the door and struck one of the Skitters, causing a chain reaction that made all the Skitters explode. The explosions took out a few rot as well. This, of course, made it "safe" for the Hunters to exit.

Once back out in the main hall, the Hunters fought their way towards another doorway. Once inside, they discovered a bare hallway. That was until a giant Fleshcraft dropped from the ceiling. This one, however, had three wounds in it already. Matt:"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" The Hunters opened fire on the beast while Matt took care of tiny fiends the Fleshcraft summoned. After creating enough extra wounds in the horrible creature, Judge cast the Word of Power Edge, sending beams of pure, blue light into the creature's dark heart.

This was enough to finish the job, and the giant monster fell dead. After the carcass disappeared into dust, the Hunters saw a silver key. Up to a certain point in this new hallway, it was completely clear of monsters. Once they reached a "T" in the hallway, however, the raver and razor-eyed Fleshcraft started to appear in great numbers!

Matt, however, extended his Dragon Chains and surged them forward, piercing every foul creature they came across. If he didn't kill them, Matt was definitely successful in horribly wounding them. After this, it was simple for the Hunters to charge forward and kill the Fleshcraft. Both of the hallways went toward the same area and met behind a yonder wall. After passing through the hallway, killing any creature that dared to get in their way, the Hunters went around the corner on the other side of the wall. There they discovered a frightened teenage girl and set her free.

Getting back to the entrance of the room was the same as getting through it the first time. A few Fleshcraft monsters and a couple of rot cops got in the way, but they were easily defeated. Matt:"I can sense the Life Force of one other human in a separate room. Once we free 'em we'll head downstairs." Once the Hunters reached the mainhall, they charged their way through the army of rot and Fleshcraft to another gate.

The Hunters passed through the gate and locked it behind them. The corridor ahead seemed bare. A couple of rot appeared between rows of patient beds, but except for those, the hallway was clear of enemies. That was until the Hunters reached the halfway point in their current straight-a-way. Suddenly multitudes of Skitters leaped from the ceiling! The Hunters had hardly anytime to react, but Matt extended his cape and wrapped the group up inside of it. The Skitters exploded on contact with the cape, ripping it up even more than it already was. The cape, however, was far enough away from the group that the explosions didn't so much as give them a scratch!

Matt:"Well, that worked out. Come on, the innocent is just up ahead." As they walked forward, Matt's cape repaired itself and went back to its normal length. They went around a corner and found a large bunch of Skitters. The Hunters fired at a few in front, causing a chain reaction which killed off the others. The group of Hunters then turned right, heading towards a large room. Inside the large room, they noticed several Fleshcraft and rot cops. They also spotted an innocent girl in the corner. While the other Hunters fired away at the fiendish monsters, Matt flew over the crowd and landed next to the girl. He freed her and she was teleported to the Train Station.

The Hunters had fought off the monsters long enough for Matt to do this. Judge:"Ok, the girl is safe, let's get out of here!" Judge and the others started to run, as a gigantic Fleshcraft monster fell from the ceiling. Matt flew after them, but not before cold-clocking the Fleshcraft and sending it flying away from the Hunters. The Hunters escaped with an army of rot, Fleshcraft, and Skitters breathing down their backs! Not much later, they reached the exit and plowed their way towards the staircase. After unlocking the gate with the key they discovered earlier, the Hunters went down the stairs, deeper into the bowels of the accursed penitentiary.


	11. Playing With Fire

At the bottom of the staircase, they saw a huge fire burning! Defender:"The Messengers just informed me that there are people down here!" Martyr:"What! How many?" Defender:"Five." Judge:"Split up and search the entire floor. There are five of us, so we'll be able to beat the odds!" Avenger:"Yeah, but we have only about six minutes before that fire eats through the supports!" Matt:"Then let's move! The more time we spend contemplating this, the less chance we have to escape!"

With that, they split up. Martyr finds an innocent behind a glass barrier and frees her. Then she runs off and catches up to Avenger. The others went down separate corridors; Matt went down a corridor that had an elevator branch off. Matt flew above the large mob of rot and went into the deep recesses of the room. When he gets to the deepest portion, he spots an innocent young girl trapped behind a burning piece of ceiling structure. Matt swoops down and rescues her. From there, Matt stands before great army of deadmen. Matt:"Necro Blade Dragon!" Matt's dragon had a tremendous feast, annihilating over 150 dead guys in its wake. The hallway was now clear for the other Hunters to pass through. With that, Matt starts to walk towards the elevator branch-off.

Over in the next corridor, Judge and Defender were fighting through mob after mob of undead prisoners. However, in order to beat the odds against them, the two Hunters recklessly charged into the fray, killing only the rot that got close to them. With the limited amount of time they had, they'd have to run faster than they ever had in their lives. They ran through the mob, suffering a few blows and cuts along the way, but otherwise unharmed. The Hunters spotted a man hiding in fear from what he deemed to be crazed inmates, so they went over and rescued him before anymore rot could harm him. Just to be certain, the two Hunters went into the deepest portion of the corridor and found a teenage girl, being beaten half to death in the center of the room by the dead inmates!

Judge cast the Word of Power Edge and eliminated the inmates surrounding the helpless young woman. After that, the two freed her and turned around. The two headed back towards the entrance of their corridor, fighting off any rot that got in their path. Defender cast the Ward Edge to help ensure their safety. After a long run, they finally made it back to the exit of their corridor. From there, they went down Matt's corridor and into the elevator branch-off.

Else where, Avenger and Martyr were in a similar boat as Judge and Defender; they were running with all the speed they could muster while fighting off rot. Martyr could run rings around Avenger, however, so she was very far ahead of the giant. Martyr also activated her Demand Edge, which increased her speed even more. She was running so fast that she was at the end of the corridor and in a large room before she even knew it. Meanwhile, Avenger stayed behind and was hacking up every deadman foolish enough to get in his way. Martyr scanned the large room for signs of life. Eventually, she spotted a teenage boy trapped behind a wall of flames. She freed him, however, after doing so an army of the Razor-eyed Fleshcraft appeared and surrounded the poor girl!

Avenger was having the toughest battle of his life in the more shallow portions of the corridor. He was battling off an army of at least 150 rot by himself. The sad thing was, he was winning! And with very few scars to show for it! Deeper in the corridor, Martyr activated her Retribution Edge. Demand was still active, so she ran through the crowd of monsters without worry, her Retribution shield protecting her from all physical damage. When Avenger saw her coming, he cast Smite and obliterated the wall of rot around him then turned and ran towards the gateway. Once the twosome was out, they sealed the gate and ran for the corridor Matt had under control.

All five of the innocents on the burning floor were safe and sound in the train station; however, despite the split-up plan the Hunters concocted, they had only twenty seconds left before the roof collapsed! They all were in the elevator, with Matt just beginning to enter, when suddenly an army of rot and Fleshcraft broke through the gate and threatened the Hunters! There were too many to fight and still survive, so Matt turned back towards the army of rot! Matt:"Go! I'll hold them off!" The other Hunters were quite hesitant, considering that there was only about ten seconds left.

Unknown to them, however, something else was affecting Matt's decision. Matt stopped fighting the Vampire Venom and started to shriek, as if in immense pain! Shortly after, the Hunters saw their greatest ally take on a gothic appearance and started to walk towards them, with evil in his coal-black eyes, along side the rot! Matt's black armor had changed into white flesh, and he was morphed into a vampire! As if answering to this evil glare, Judge activated the lift, and the Hunters were carried below ground. Five seconds later, the roof collapsed, crushing everything on the floor! The other Hunters, however, made it down to the lower floors of the hospital section of the penitentiary with a little turbulence, but no injuries. Although they had some slight worries as to Matt's safety, they pressed forward into the cursed prison, unhindered!

The Hunters exited the lift and looked back at it. The wires that lowered them down were completely ripped apart, meaning the lift was completely inoperative! However, the Hunters had bigger problems at the moment; a small army of raver Fleshcraft decided to drop on by. The Hunters charged at them, killing them all rather quickly. They went through a doorway to their left and came into a sort of library. Fleshcraft were appearing in moderate numbers from in between rows of shelves. The Hunters fought back against them, killing any that got near enough to them to hack with their melee weapon. In between the third and fourth rows of shelves, Avenger spotted a young woman cowering in fear. He went over and freed her and, in the process, eliminated three raver Fleshcraft.

Eventually, the Hunters were successful in eliminating all of the Fleshcraft in the room. They discovered a silver key in amongst the mangled bodies of the vile creatures. After grabbing the key, they used it on a nearby door and unlocked it. They passed through the doorway and came to a room that was similar in shape to an ice hockey ring. The floor was a little slippery and their were two levels of seats, looking in towards the center. The Fleshcraft armies were growing in strength; a few of the razor-eyed Fleshcraft appeared amongst the ravers! Though they were deadlier, those particular Fleshcraft had relatively low stamina and fell after just one swing of Avenger's axe!

The Hunters were successful in destroying all of the Fleshcraft, but they weren't able to do it unharmed. However, Defender Rejuvenated them all, and the group of zombie killers pressed forward. Avenger:"Hey, why do I get the feeling that with Matt gone, the attacks of the undead have lightened up?" Martyr:"Yeah, I was beginning to wonder the same thing, Deuce." Defender:"Perhaps whomever is controlling these creatures feels that we aren't worthy to challenge it..." Judge:"Or, perhaps it is saving the largest army of all beyond this doorway..."

When they went into the next room, the Hunters discovered that it was Judge who was correct; huge, nearly limitless numbers of raver Fleshcraft appeared in the long corridor ahead! Avenger:"Alright, Esteban, I hate to say that your were right, but you were right. Now let's show these undead freaks what we're made of!"

With this, they charged into battle, Judge and Avenger leading the way. By using 360 degree attacks, the Hunters were triumphing over impossible odds. The Fleshcraft fell one after another. Some would fire acid balls out of their mutated hands, but the Hunters were able to dodge them, and the Fleshcraft would only hurt one of their own! Finally, however, the corridor was clear of infestation. The Hunters were very worn out, but came out of it almost completely unscathed. They walked cautiously towards the end of the corridor. There, they came to a large room where small numbers of razor-eyed Fleshcraft appeared. Avenger took them out, one creature at a time, with a single swing of his mighty axe. After it appeared as though Avenger had killed all of the monsters, the Hunters continued towards a small staircase, which lead to another long corridor.

That's when things got really ugly; the Hunters reached to bottom of the staircase and found themselves completely surrounded by raver Fleshcraft! And all of them were spewing out acid! Defender activated Ward and created a barrier of pure magic around the group. Judge cast his Word of Power Edge as Avenger activated Smite. This ultimate onslaught eliminated several of the approaching Fleshcraft, but many more were still appearing! So, Martyr activated both Demand and Retribution to protect her. She left the protection of the Ward barrier and started to hack away at her enemies with lightning-fast speed and increased strength.

The Fleshcraft attacked with increased ferocity, but Martyr's Retribution shield absorbed all the damage that was inflicted upon her and sent it straight back at the Fleshcraft! Thanks to Martyr's brave attack, the Hunters regained the upper hand, and finished what they started. Finally, after suffering many injuries and swing many, many times, the Hunters were victorious. Once the group ascertained that no more vile creatures were appearing from either corridor, Defender used Rejuvenate once more. Once the group was healed, they slowly and cautiously went down the corridor.

No more creatures were appearing in the corridor, but then they came upon an extremely bizarre sight; the floor and walls of the corridor were covered in what appeared to be flesh! That's when they saw an man of average height, with a cane and blood all the way up his left arm, working on something; that something was a **human carcass**! The man spotted the Hunters and screamed! Then, he lifted his bloody arm and the body he was working on and two others disappeared deeper into the "Flesh Tunnel!"

Hadrian:"Too soon! Too soon! How does he expect me to be finished in time, if he allows me to be interrupted! Can you tell me that? Can _you_? Of course not, heheheheheh. STUPID FLESHBAG! You know nothing; if you did you would've left Hadrian alone to do his work, but you did not." At this the man turned around. What the Hunters thought was a bloody left arm, was really a mutated Fleshcraft arm! The man's mouth was on this arm, and the arm was talking to the Hunters! Hadrian:"You have disturbed me; now, I will disturb _you_!" With this, Hadrian slammed his cane on the ground was a load boom, and three of the gargantuan Fleshcraft appeared! Avenger:"Oh, you've got to be freakin' kidding me!"


	12. Back In Action

_Meanwhile..._Matt was laying unconscious underneath two floors worth of rubble in his normal state. Matt slowly regained consciousness and hit his head on the rubble and stone structures. But, two floors worth of weight was nothing for Matt's strength. Ever since he'd become Brawn, his normal state's strength increased to that of 100 men! Matt burst out of the rubble and looked around. He didn't see the Hunters nor any rot around. Matt had a few gashes and his shirt had been completely ripped off, but other than that, he was perfectly fine now; his Healing Factor had eradicated the Vampire Venom from his system as he laid dormant.

Matt looked down at his wounded chest when he felt the sting of the air. That's when Matt noticed that his blood was black! What surprised him even more was how quickly his wound healed! So, Matt concentrated and transformed into this Nintendo form. When the changed was over, Matt looked at his hand and saw a Bowser hand! Matt:"Huh!" As Matt wondered aloud, God contacted him. God:"It seems that your Healing Factor has adapted you to your surroundings once again. Don't be alarmed; when the vampress bit you, your Healing Factor absorbed a little bit of Demon DNA from the venom, which consequently gave you the powers of another of your favorites, Inuyasha. I also granted you a Holy Transfer of the abilities of Star Fox to aid in your quest; as you know, Aaron wished to retire out of the hero business and live with his family, so I took his Nintendo form away. I remembered how you worked so well with Fox in you, so I decided to give him back to you."

Matt seemed to glow with thankfulness and excitement. God:"However, I did rid you of Batman Beyond's powers to give you Fox back. Anyway, with Inuyasha's Demon DNA in you, your Healing Factor is now 5x as potent as the original. It also granted you complete immunity to Vampire Venom, Werewolf Venom, and Zombie Bacteria! As for any of your other changes, I think you can figure them out by yourself..." With this, He disappeared.

As if by magic, Matt suddenly knew everything there was to know about his new Kooparoku form. Armed with this knowledge, Matt dug until he uncovered the elevator shaft and leaped down into it. Matt smashed through the lift and emerged in the small corridor the Hunters had been in. Matt instantly figured out that he was on the right track because of all the blood and mangled limps that covered the floor. Matt proceeded to fly through the underground portion of the compound. Because of Star Fox, SS4 Goku, and Inuyasha's **Super Speed**, Matt was running at 400 mph! Therefore, it wasn't long before Matt was through the locker room, the ice hockey ring, and into the huge corridor. The trail was still fresh, but Matt saw something he didn't like. The "Flesh Tunnel" was expanding throughout the corridors and covering up the blood trail! Fortunately, Matt knew where the source of the tunnel was. Matt rushed through the tunnel and eventually stumbled upon the battle that raged on!

The gigantic Fleshcraft monsters towered over the Hunters; each one of them was twice as tall as Avenger! Although he hadn't lost his faith, Judge began to pray aloud. Judge:"Almighty God, please, if we fail this night to vanquish that which sin has embodied, grant us passage into paradise if we are worthy. Amen." Before a Fleshcraft monster, that was facing the extended tunnel, could smash down upon them, Matt fired a blast of Fire-Fortress Blades. The Blades were a mix between Brawn's **Fortress Beams**, Fox's **Fire Fox**, and Inuyasha's **Blades of Blood**. It sent out five spinning blades of flame out towards the monster. The Blades steadily moved further and further apart the farther they flew, but when they reached the monster, they were still close enough together to get the desired result. The Blades cut the Fleshcraft monster in two, killing it instantly!

Defender:"What on God's Earth?" She soon got her answer when she saw a huge monster, slightly larger than Avenger in height, charge in at superhuman speed and cold-clock one of the beasts! The force from said attack sent the creature plowing into a "Flesh Wall." Unknown to the Hunters, due to his new outlandish appearance, the 8 foot creature battling against the much larger Fleshcraft monster was Matt!

Matt slammed the creature against the wall once more and delivered a monstrous blow to its face. Even with Batman Beyond gone, Matt still had the strength of one million men, thanks to Inuyasha's super strength. The Fleshcraft stumbled, but it gave Matt an "ear box" and continued to apply pressure! Matt proceeded to extend his new Adamantium Mace and stab the creature in either of its hands! The Mace was the same as the Adamantium Blades, but in between the Sword Spikes, the edges of Spawn's axe, _Agony_, extended!

The creature roared with pain. While it was stunned, Matt performed the **Slash 'n' Slam**, lifting the creature into the air and then smashing its chest with 4,000 pounds of girth and muscle! The creature was in immense pain, but it wasn't dead yet! It grabbed Matt by the leg and slammed him into the ground a couple of times. Matt countered with an uppercut, then sent a Scar Dragon after it. The Scar Dragon was the mix of Brawn's **Mini Necro Blade Dragon** and Inuyasha's **Wind Scar**. It sent three orange, dragon shaped beams, which met at a single point, hurtling towards the monster! It hit with the devastating force of 3 Atomic Bombs and annihilated the creature! A loud splash of blood hitting the floor of the Flesh Tunnel was all that remained of it!

The third and final monster was towering over the Hunters, but this time, the Hunters were prepared for it. The odds were more in their favor. But, Matt saw the creature about to clap down, so Matt used Iron Spectre. It was a mix between Fox's **Fox Illusion** and Inuyasha's **Iron Reaver Soul Stealer**. It created a technique similar to Klaw Illusion, its predecessor. Matt moved at the speed of light across the room and grabbed the creature around its neck. After he'd grabbed it, Matt turned around and slammed it on the ground. When the creature stood back up, Matt decided it was time for him to try out his new ultimate attack. The monster continued to lumber towards Matt, unaware of the danger it was about to place itself in. Matt:"Celestial Wraith!" Matt unleashed a beam as white as an angel's wings straight at the Fleshcraft! Celestial Wraith, the mix between Brawn's **Necro Blade Dragon**, Fox's **Hyper Laser**, and Inuyasha's **Backlash Wave**, was 6x6 and possessed the condensed power of 30 Atomic Bombs! If this wasn't a clue to the Hunters as to who he was, the fact that the beam was shaped like a dragon's head should've been a clue!

The creature disintegrated into dust. Suddenly, Dr. Hadrian returned. Hadrian:"What have you done to my precious creations!" Matt:"I just sent them to Hell where they belong. And if its any consolation, you're about to be reunited!" Hadrian:"STUPID FLESHBAG! Let's see you fight off this army!" With this, Hadrian slammed his cane on the ground and a multitude of razor-eyed Fleshcraft appeared! Matt:"Do you guys think you can take the razor-eyed freaks?" The other Hunters nodded. At this, the final battle against the Fleshcraft began.

Hadrian made the first move. He unleased a ball of bright green energy and hurled it straight for gigantic hero! Matt took it in stride and simply deflected the blast with a backhand. The ball went to the right of Matt, straight into a razor-eyed freak. the ball partially melted the bizarre monster's torso and covered it with a green slime of sorts. From then on, the monster seemed like it was moving in slow-motion.

Hadrian:"Curses! You've turned my own attack upon my creations! Well, try deflecting this!" Hadrian fired a beam of the same color out of his staff. Matt used Iron Spectre to move out of the way at the speed of light. Matt stopped on the other side of the room. More of the Fleshcraft fell pray to their own master's attack! Hadrian was irritated now; he used his telekinesis to lift Matt into the air! Hadrian:"You'll never be able to dodge my attacks now!" The evil doctor fired his acid beam right for Matt, who put his arms in front of himself in a "X", as if to protect himself. Matt had a different plan in mind, however. The moment Matt formed the "X" with his arms, his Reflector, which he regained from having Fox in his DNA once more, reflected the acid beam straight back at the maniacal Dr. Hadrian!

Hadrian, thanks to his own attack, was badly hurt and moving in slow-mo! Matt was also released from his telekinitic grasp and bum-rushed him using Iron Spectre. Matt grasped Hadrian around the neck, however as soon as he did, Hadrian's Fleshcraft arm bit Matt! Hadrian:"Now, become my slave! I may not look the part, but I'm still a vampire! You'll soon become on as well and then we'll end the Hunter's reign of terror together!" To the evil vampire's surprise, however, Matt's wound healed up! Hadrian:"WHAT? Vampire bite wounds never heal!" All Matt said in reply was, "They do when you're immune to Vampire Venom!" Matt followed his verbal answer with a more physical one.

Matt's blow sent Hadrian sailing across the Tunnel and landing a few feet away. With Hadrian temporarily down for the count, Matt looked to see how his new friends were doing. Despite the nearly impossible odds they faces, the group was doing quite well; Smite and Word of Power were having devastating effects on the Fleshcraft monsters. Matt sensed Hadrian beginning to move again, so Matt shifted his attention back to the matter at hand. Hadrian slammed his staff on the ground and a fourth gargantuan Fleshcraft fell from the ceiling!

Matt:"Hadrian, you coward! Hiding behind your precious creations! The more you make, the more _I'll_ have to kill!" Matt extended his Adamantium Mace and slashed the beast three times; once down and left, once down and right, and a final slash straight up the middle. The creature split into five different pieces, leaving nothing but a pool of blood at Matt's feet! Matt:"I've had just about enough of you and those monsters!" With that, Matt shoved his Mace straight through Hadrian's stomach! Despite his vampirism and powerful telekinesis, Hadrian found himself and his creatures quickly and easily defeated by the Hunters. After Matt had thrown him across the Tunnel and he'd stood up, the Hunters fired a volley of rounds at Hadrian and finished him! Hadrian gagged and gargled as he laid dying. He tried to push himself back to his feet, but he gagged again and slumped back to the floor of his "Flesh Tunnel" once more.

With Hadrian's death, Matt looked back towards his friends and they stared back, weapons cocked. Matt now looked like an eight foot Bowser-dominated behemoth! His eyes were solid, like Spawn's, and colored gold. His hair was reddish-orange, like Bowser. Matt no longer had an aura of golden light, but he possessed the Holy Ring, a simple fusion of the **Safety Ring** and the **Holy Aura**. Other than his new looks and new powers, Matt changed little else, other than Spawn was still dominant in the voice, Bowser in the body, and he possessed the speed of Fox, SS4 Goku, and Inuyasha.

The Hunters felt otherwise, however. Martyr:"While we can appreciate the gesture, freak, you look like something we should be fighting against, not with!" Matt sighed. Matt:"After all the times I've saved you tonight I'da thought I would be welcomed back with open arms. But, no! And after all we've been through...we fought a demonic _teddy bear_ together for Christ's sake!" The other Hunters lowered their weapons at this speech. Matt:"And if that isn't enough proof for you..." Matt changed back into his normal state before their eyes!

As Matt expected, the Hunters were now grateful and happy to see him. Judge:"So, what should we call you now?" Matt:"My transformation is now Kooparoku, the Universal Guardian. As for my Creed...just call me...Hero." Defender:"How did you come up with that?" Matt:"Heroes do everything in their power to protect the innocent and their comrades. That's me in a nutshell." Avenger:"Well said. Now we better get moving; it's running on 3:00 AM!" Martyr:"We need to move for a different reason! Look!" Suddenly, the "Flesh Tunnel" caught fire, along with Hadrian's body. So, Matt transformed back into Kooparoku and lead the others out of the Tunnel, and into the prison's sewer system. With Hadrian's defeat, the Hunters were one more step closer to stopping the threat to Ashcroft!


	13. A New Mystery Arises

The Flesh Tunnel extended straight into the sewer system, so the Hunters didn't have much time to ask Matt some wanted questions. Within the sewers, prisoner rot and the few remaining Fleshcraft monsters stood in the Hunters' way. They charged into battle, Matt stayed behind and fired a spree of Fire-Fortress Blades at more distant foes. Matt killed a huge amount of rot with just one blast, which allowed the Hunters to continue forward.

They went through the corridor and came to a wide room after a short walk. Rot started to appear form all corners of the room and completely surrounded the group! Avenger:"I'm getting pretty sick of these freaks!" Matt:"You and me both!" With that, Matt fired a Scar Dragon at a group of rot. It traveled for 50 feet, killing all the rot it came into contact with, then dissipated. The others went to the four corners of the room and started to hack away at their undead foes. Eventually, the Hunters were able to push past their enemies. With in the room, the Hunters spotted an imbued teenager. Teenager:"The three corpses that Dr. Hadrian was working on are behind this iron gate. You must find a way to lower it before you can proceed."

The Hunters looked in the other direction and quickly discovered a large switch, used to open a sewer gate. The pressed the switch, but it didn't open the one they wanted. It opened another one that lead deeper into the sewer tunnel. So, the Hunters reluctantly proceeded down this tunnel, eventually they came to an iron door. Matt:"You guys go in there, I'll take care of these guys." Matt was referring to the flamethrower rot cops that appeared out of nowhere.

Therefore, the other Hunters entered the room. Inside they not only found an innocent man crouched in its center, but in a far corner they spotted the switch which they required! Without hesitation the Hunters activated the switch and heard a piercing click off in the distance. When they exited the room, they spotted three blood stains on the wall, and Matt crouched on the ground, waiting. Matt:"Want a ride? I can run at 400 mph, so I'll have us back there in just a few seconds." They accepted because they trusted him completely. And, after just eight seconds, Matt had ran the entire distance of the corridor and across the big room they were in before.

Matt stopped in front of three hospital beds. The beds had corpses on top of them. Matt:"Hold on. Do those look familiar to you at all?" Judge:"Kind of think of it, these bodies do look similar to the people in that painting in the Warden's study!" Martyr:"These must be vessels for souls! The Warden must've been trying to give the vile spirits from within the Hole vessels to come to." Defender:"Well, we can't allow that plan to come to fruition. We'll have to burn the bodies." Matt:"Hold on, I'll be right back." With that, Matt ran off and returned a few moments later, holding a rot cop's flamethrower. He placed it between the three bodies. Matt:"Fireworks, anyone?" Avenger shot the napalm tank, which exploded and ignited the three bodies, completely burning them to ashes!

With that task completed, the Hunters continued back towards the other end of the tunnel. They had to take out a sporadic number of prisoner rot and the occasional flamethrower cop, but other than that, no other enemies appeared in the tunnels. After a while, the Hunters finally reached latter. Above them the words "Machine Shop" were written on a hatch. Judge:"I guess the only way to go is back up. So, with that, the Hunters climbed up the latter, with Matt close behind.

No sooner had they reached the top of the latter, they were completely surrounded by rot, flamethrower cops, and Skitters once again returned. A Scar Dragon took out all the enemies directly in front of Matt, which cleared a path to let the Hunters spread out a little. Directly behind Matt, a Skitter dropped from the ceiling and exploded on him, sending him flying towards a group of rot! The Skitter had completed his mission, but it helped the Hunters in a way; Matt went flying and smashed a couple of rot into the ground. The wound that he received healed in a couple of seconds and Matt was back on his feet in no time at all.

After finishing off a few more Skitters and a trio of rot cops, the Hunters were able to press forward into the next room, after they obtained the key. In the next room, they came out on a slightly elevated ledge overseeing a mashpit of rot! Matt:"This is going to hurt them, a lot more than it's gonna hurt us!" With that, Matt fired his Fire-Fortress Blades. Each Blade pierced through a few rot and stuck an explosive container! This caused a chain reaction that unleashed a massive explosion! The explosion killed almost all the rot in the room and sent zombie guts flying all over the place! Matt:"WHOA! I didn't expect it to work nearly _that_ well!"

The Hunters finished off the few remainders and continued onward. They came to a doorway with a busted wall next to it. On the other side of the hole, the Hunters saw four robotic piles of junk come to life! Matt:"Guys, stay here!" Matt extended his Adamantium Mace and Iron Spectre-ed his way into the room. He plowed through two of the robots and slashed a third straight down the middle. The fourth fired a large buzzsaw blade at Matt, but he blocked it with his Mace and cut the robot in two. Red flames shot out of the robots and the piles of junk deconstructed.

Judge:"It would seem that the same red ghost spirits that possess the red gargoyles were possessing those piles of junk as well." Martyr:"I knew you were fast, but that was fast for even you! How did you do it?" Matt:"A new power I received lets me move at the speed of light for about nine yards. With my Mace extended, I was able to cut down three of them before they even knew what hit 'em. Now, come on. We've got to press onward or we'll never close that confounded hole!" The other Hunters nodded and followed Matt through a small doorway leading into Death Row.

Once the quintet of heroes passed through the doorway, they came into a virtually empty room. All that stood in their way were five rot cops armed with only pistols. These cops were killed almost effortlessly. There were no other exits except for a corridor lined with cell doors. Matt:"I can only guess what we'll find in there." But, they pressed on regardless. Soon, the entire corridor was filled to the rim with rot! Matt wasn't in the mood to deal with this army of the undead, so he released a Scar Dragon that flowed down the entire corridor. Just about every single enemy was disintegrated before the blast dissipated at the end of the hall. The few that remained were annihilated by a holy Word of Power blast.

After that horrible corridor was surpassed, the Hunters came out in a room that was situated like a library. A teenage couple was crouched in the corner of the room. Matt:"Wait. This is too easy. Alright, come on out, you hussies!" Suddenly, three vampresses appeared out of thin air and attacked! One got the jump on Avenger and sent him flying across the room with a forceful blow. However, that one was instantly impaled by Judge's Crusader Sword. With another horizontal hack, Judge decapitated the devilish woman. A second died with equal ease; Martyr and Defender were tag-teaming it. As for the third, it was facing off against the Hunters' dragonic ally. Matt blocked a few attacked from the vampress, then fired a spree of Fire-Fortress Blades. The Blades themselves didn't kill the evil woman, but Matt's next punch did; the Blades had cut the woman so finely that she was still alive! When Matt punched her, the piece above the cut flew off and both parts disintegrated into dust.

After they helped Avenger to his feet and freed the innocents, the group looked around he room for an exit. However, they were unable to find a doorway! Matt:"Wait! I can sense Life Force on the other side of this wall, but how do we get through?" With a hopeless sounding sigh, Avenger leaned up against a book case. Suddenly, that bookcase moved aside, revealing a hidden room! Martyr:"When in doubt, lean and pout!" The group laughed and entered the hidden room and were immediately jumped by three more vampresses! Matt Iron Spectre-ed his way past one and killed it by decapitation before it could react. Avenger eliminated the other two by casting Smite.

Matt noticed another innocent man in the corner and freed him without hesitation. Defender:"So, how did you know that those vampresses had hidden themselves in that other room?" Matt:"Well, when you have Demon DNA in you, you start to get a feel for what other demons feel like. Getting bit by that vampress sort of jump started my adaption process. I said before that I would adjust and be able to detect the rot before they got the jump on us, and that's precisely what happened." After this short explanation, the group continued onward into another room. When they entered, they looked up to see Carpenter sitting on top of an electric chair!


	14. March On Death Row

Avenger:"I was hoping you were dead, Carpenter. What do you want!" Carpenter:"I was always, you know, a tough guy. I've been cut up, shot, and thought I knew what pain was. That wesley little son of a bitch vampire showed me how wrong I was. I spent _two years_ locked up in this hole, and I don't know what was worse: cowering in my cell at night, _praying_ the Warden and his blood-sucking partners wouldn't want to feed on me, or listening to Hadrian, giggle like a **little girl** while he tortured us..._and took notes_."

Judge:"All of this, was for the purpose of revenge?" Carpenter:"Save it! _You_ wanted in, _I_ got you in! This place is filled with more angry spectres than you could possibly imagine! We spent **years** as human cattle for Degenhardt and his friends, and when we were no good for that, we were **lab rats** for Hadrian! The only reason I came back was to give Hadrian what he deserved: _four days of never-ending pain_! So I used you to get to him. We all got what we wanted!"

Defender:"Well, you won't have to worry about Hadrian anymore, Carpenter." Matt:"Yeah, that psycho tried to kill us, so I paid him back in spades!" Carpenter:"Dead! Hadrian's dead? But, I'm still here. You killed him? _You_ killed him? Do you have any idea what it takes to get back here, **TWICE**! He was mine! And you...you sheep...YOU STOLE HIM FROM ME!" Carpenter gave a gasping breath and tugged at his shirt. After pulling twice, his shirt ripped off, along with a couple of chains that were around his neck. Carpenter stood before them, shirtless and he seemed to have a transparent aura around him. Carpenter had armed himself with two large cleavers. Carpenter:"[Loud whisper] You're going to beg me...to kill you!"

Carpenter ran straight for Matt. Carpenter swung his cleaver, but Matt blocked with his left Mace and shoved the Mace on the right straight through Carpenter's chest! However, Carpenter was completely unharmed! Carpenter started to go kung-fu on Matt; he gave two slashes with his cleavers and kicked Matt in the stomach twice, followed by a powerful roundhouse to the face. Matt was sent flying across the room and smashed into a wall. Matt got back to his feet instantly, suffering only a bleeding lip, which immediately healed itself.

Carpenter hissed with rage. Defender:"Carpenter wasn't hurt at all! He must have an anchor! But where?" Judge:"Wait! Anchors are objects in the ghost's life that gave them great pleasure or caused them great..." Judge suddenly turned to the electric chair. Martyr:"Pain! The chair! That's the anchor!" Matt:"That's why you couldn't get enough of this place isn't it, Carpenter? You're held here by that chair and you're also drawn to it!" Carpenter charged Matt again, with two transparent copies of him following. Since Carpenter was a super powerful ghost, he could move faster than others!

Matt Iron Spectre-ed his way past Carpenter as he charged and stopped directly next to the chair. Matt:"Guys! Keep Mr. Chop-happy back there busy for a second!" The chair mysteriously released a burst of red energy that would've harmed Matt if it wasn't for his Holy Ring. Matt grabbed the chair by the seat and started to heave. After a small amount of effort, Matt had lifted the chair from its bolted down position to over his head!

Matt:"Carpenter!" Carpenter was just about to swing at Defender when he looked over. Matt:"Since you like this chair so much...you can have it!" With that, Matt tossed the chair at the evil revenge-bent ghost. The chair smashed into Carpenter and carried him to the other end of the room. The chair blew into splinters on impact with the wall. Carpenter emerged from the rubble, with the transparent aura Matt detected gone and a gash that was bleeding blue, ectoplasmic blood on his torso!

Matt followed his toss with a Scar Dragon, which ended up hitting Carpenter. Carpenter glowed orange for a moment or two, but then returned to normal. Matt:"[Inner] This guy is no ordinary ghost! My Scar Dragon should've been able to kill him instantly! Guess we'll have to take him out the old-fashioned way." The Hunters had the same thought process going through their minds as well, so they pulled out their guns and ran as fast as they could. Carpenter could still move faster than any normal human, so they had to stay on their toes.

Avenger was running backwards and firing at Carpenter with his rifle at the same time. Carpenter, however, was plowing through the barrage and tried to swing at Avenger with his cleavers! Avenger narrowly dodged the deadly weapon's attack! Suddenly, Avenger saw a huge, Koopa fist smack Carpenter in the face, sending him flying into a wall. To everyone's surprise, it left an imprint! Judge:"What? It's almost like...he's a human, stuck between the world of the living and the undead! He's neither dead or alive!" Suddenly, Carpenter threw one of his cleavers at Judge, but Matt stood in its path. Matt activated his golden Reflector, reciprocating the attack right back at the evil ghost!

Carpenter was able to dodge his own cleaver, but he couldn't dodge Avenger's Cleave powered axe! Avenger rolled out of Carpenter's path and swung again. Carpenter had several "bleeding" gashes on his torso, and his mask was cracked from Matt's punch. Defender activated Ward and ran around Carpenter, the barrier of pure energy was damaging the vile deadman little by little. Martyr joined the fun by activating Demand and Retribution. Martyr was no able to run rings around even Carpenter! Martyr ran around Carpenter and began to slash him repeatedly with her daggers. Carpenter got in a couple of good shots, but the wound Martyr would've received appeared on Carpenter's body!

Eventually, Martyr's Edges wore off, so she was forced to retreat. Matt Iron Spectre-ed Carpenter, grabbing him with an open hand. When Matt reappeared further down the room, Matt slammed Carpenter forward in to the ground, leaving an indent once more! From there, he threw Carpenter back the other direction, back towards the Hunters. Avenger's axe was still Cleaved, so he let Carpenter have another flaming swing. Carpenter, however, shrugged off the hit and hissed at the Hunters with rage! From behind him though, Matt fired Fire-Fortress Blades. The furthest two completely missed, however the inner two each sliced a cleaver in half and the middle Blades sliced clean through Carpenter's head!

This ghost, however, was no easy prey. The spun and kicked all the Hunters away from him in one, almost invisible motion! With his, Carpenter and his two after-images charged in Matt's direction! Matt:"[Inner] Jezz! I've tried everything I've got against this creep! Except..." Matt leaped over Carpenter's charged and spun in mid air. Matt:"Celestial Wraith!" The six-by-six blast surged forward, straight for Carpenter! Carpenter turned just in time to see the beam coming directly towards him!

From within the dragon's mouth, Matt could hear Carpenter's screams of anguish and pain! When Matt's blast dispersed, Carpenter fell to his knees! Carpenter:"Graw...agga...GRAHHH!" With the last scream, a huge white fireball left Carpenter's body, which fell forward dead. Matt:"Poor, pitiful bastard..." Suddenly, he felt a presence in the room and turned abruptly. The Hunters felt it as well, turning with weapons cocked. However, whatever was in the room escaped through another door before any of them could fire. With the deed of putting Carpenter's tormented soul to rest, the Hunters passed through the other doorway and went into the deep bowels of Death Row!

The Hunters knew that they had to follow the shadowy figure, so they went through the doorway up ahead. After the doorway, they discovered another room that was filled to the rim with rot. The Hunters tackle this room the same way as its counterpart. They emerged victoriously. The group suddenly saw a blank computer screen turn on, revealing a connection. Matt:"Hey! Look at this! It says here that there may have been something wrong with Arkady other than spirit possession...all of his victims appeared as if they had been **mauled** by animals!" All of them knew what that meant...

Beyond the computer room, the Hunters saw a doorway. Figuring that something was beyond the doorway, they entered the room cautiously. Suddenly, Matt saw a massive army of rot appear within the computer room! Matt:"You guys go on ahead, I'll take care of these guys!" Defender:"But..." Matt:"No `buts'! [Extends his Mace] If these guys were to follow us, it would make taking care of Arkady infinitely more difficult. Besides, you know I'll live through it." So, with that, the other four Hunters proceeded, while Matt stayed behind and hacked an slashed his way through the army of rot!

The next room was completely vacant, except for an electric chair; Nathaniel Arkady was still strapped into the chair! Avenger:"Ah, hell!" Arkady:"You shouldn't be here! I've already killed to many people! Why are you making me do this!" Judge:"Nathaniel, please, there must be something than can be done!" Arkady:"Still trying to save me, preacher? It's far too late." Avenger:"Well, you won't be killing anyone anymore, Freak!" Arkady:"You should've left when you had the chance! Now things are going to become _very messy_..." Arkady's voice was extremely deep, and sounded like a growl of sorts. But suddenly he said in a normal voice, "I **hate** messy!" Suddenly, Arkady ripped the straps on the electric chair as if they were nothing and stood on his feet. He started to groan, as if in pain. This groan then changed into a loud roar, and Arkady's body began to morph and change. Defender:"This...can't...be good!" The roar grew ever louder and a few seconds later, the Hunters stood before an eleven foot werewolf! Arkady roared loudly once more and looked over at them with an evil and menacing look!

Arkady, in his werewolf-form, could move extremely fast and the Hunters were barely able to dodge his attacks! The Hunters' weapons suddenly flashed white, and when they fired, Arkady winced with pain! Judge:"The Messengers have sent us **silver bullets**! Let's finish this!" Even though the Hunters were using silver bullets, Arkady wouldn't be killed so easily! Arkady was one of the mightiest werewolves alive! Not to mention the fact that his body was the anchor for several spirits. By raising his arms, Arkady sent out a radial blast; the blast was really the spirits temporarily releasing themselves from Arkady's body and attacking the Hunters themselves!

After rolling out of the way of the **Ghost Wave**, the Hunters stood back up and retaliated with more silver bullets. Arkady was weakening, but not fast enough for the Hunters' tastes. With a mighty leap, Arkady went straight for Judge and pounced on him! Arkady:"Let's see you _save_ yourself from this, Preacher!" Arkady was about to bite down on Judge's head and attempt to decapitate him, when, to everyone's relief, Matt entered the room. Matt:"BITE THIS!" With that, Matt shoved his Adamantium Mace straight into Arkady's mouth! Following this, Matt delivered a left hook that sent Arkady sailing backwards.

Arkady roared and spit up some blood. Arkady:"YOU! You must be that traitorous demon the spirits have been taking about! Tell me one thing:why do you waste your time protecting these fragile beings instead of ruling over them like a god!" Matt:"Because I'm no god! There is only one God and He is the one who created me! As for why I protect them, I've thought that would be simple; they're my friends. And let me give you fair warning Arkady, [sterns/lowers his tone] most of the villains I've killed, I killed because they messed with my friends..."

Arkady answered Matt's threat by releasing a Ghost Wave at him. Matt wasn't expecting this, so a great deal of wounds appeared on his body, where the multitude of ghosts scratched and slashed him. These wounds, however, healed up almost instantly. Matt retaliated against Arkady by firing a Scar Dragon at the huge monster. When it hit him, Arkady weakened sharply. Arkady was ready for more and he proceeded to charge Matt. The two of them grappled and it was evident that Matt was much stronger than Arkady. Arkady was a sly werewolf, however. With Matt's hands previously engaged, nothing could stop him from biting Matt! Well, except for the relentless firing of the Hunters. Arkady was weakening rapidly, the 5:1 odds were taking their toll on him.

Arkady crunched down hard on Matt's jugular and released Werewolf Venom through his teeth! Arkady gave a roaring laugh and gazed at the Hunters. Arkady:"If one werewolf was giving you so much trouble, then I wonder how you'll fair against two? The full moon is tonight and I injected my venom right into his jugular; he'll change in only a matter of moments!" Arkady started to laugh, but was cut short by a huge fist striking him right in the mouth! Matt:"Sorry to burst your bubble, pouch, but I'm immune to Werewolf Venom!"

Arkady was suddenly enraged! Arkady:"If I can't defeat you, then I'll take your friends instead!" Arkady made an "X" out of his body and suddenly a blast that was just as large as Arkady shot forward. The blast was the **Tragedy Bomb**, so called because it looked like a tragedy mask from an opera and would explode on contact! Fortunately, the Hunters were able to move out of the way just in time. However, Arkady was already prepping another one! The Hunters were almost directly behind Matt at this point, so when the blast came forth, Matt ran into its path! Matt proceeded to make an "X" with his arms, thus activating his Reflector. Matt:"Right back at you, Lowlife!" The bomb bounced off of Matt's golden shield and straight back to its source. The bomb exploded on contact, however, Arkady was only minorly injured.

Arkady performed a technique similar to Iron Spectre. He moved at the speed of sound straight at Matt, his arms swinging at the same rate! Matt was able to see the monster coming and made a huge fist with his right hand. Matt:"Heel, Fido!" Matt delivered his punch and it connected with the evil werewolf's face, sending him sailing across the room. Arkady smashed into a wall and started to charge again, but this time the Hunters fired a burst of silver bullets into the creature's hide!

This final burst of rounds was enough to finish Arkady. Arkady wasn't dead, but he was now to weak to fight. He roared with agony and staggered backwards, coughing up blood as he went. After a couple of steps, he fell to his knees and spit up even more blood. The Hunters walked over to the beaten werewolf, who was shaking with weakness.

Avenger pointed his rifle right at Arkady's head. Avenger:"I'm not letting you do this again! I should've killed you last time!" Arkady:"You don't understand! Last time was an accident! It wasn't my fault! This time someone did it on purpose...the rave...opened the hole again." Matt:"You're just trying to keep me form smashing your head in!" Arkady seemed to chuckle and scruff at them at the same time. Arkady:"Maybe you should think about...the person who had the most to _gain_...from the other side..."

The Hunters realized that they'd been played for fools and had wronged the "innocent" werewolf. Images of the bodies that Hadrian constructed, the gravestones by the Warden's mansion, the rave flyers, and the Warden's portrait entered their minds. Defender:"So it was a trick! The Warden's still alive, but how!" Matt:"The Vampire Venom! It kept me from feeling out the Warden's life force after we `killed' him!" Arkady:"The Hole doesn't close until they all go back, do you understand? If the Warden binds his family's souls to new bodies, it will **damn the entire city**! You need to stop that selfish bastard, before it's too late!"


	15. A Rabid Werewolf Is NOT Good Company

After a short pause, Arkady spoke again. Arkady:"I...can't...hold them back!" The them Arkady was referring to were the spirits that possessed his body. Suddenly, the Hunters could see the spirits explode out of Arkady's body and start to speak. Whatever they were saying was driving Arkady mad! Arkady, with his last moments of sanity, shouted, "Find him! Kill him! Run! Run dammit! RUN FROM ME!" Quick as a flash, the human Hunters leaped onto Matt's back and he tore out of the room at 400 miles per hour, taking an alternate route than the one they'd come through. Behind them, Arkady, who was driven to madness by the spirits, stood up with renewed strength and started to roar boisterously!

After a short time, Matt and the Hunters emerged from the alternate exit, the were in a very damaged area of the Penitentiary Courtyard. At just about the same moment, the Hunters received an urgent message from the Messengers. "With the ghosts possessing Arkady's body in full control of him, the werewolf is almost invulnerable! You'll have to drive him off somehow and reach the Warden's Mansion!"

The Hunters dismounted off of Matt and they all started to continue on foot. They were headed in the direction of the meal hall, when they saw a "pool" of blue flame; from out of this pool of flame, wolf spirits started to emerge! Matt:"Those things have to be the spirits that have been possessing Arkady. If we destroy them, than we just might be able to make Arkady vulnerable, at least temporarily." Without further hesitation, the Hunters pulled out their melee weapons and attacked the ghostly wolves. These spirits were much more resistant to injury than any other kind of "normal" creature the Hunters had faced that night, however, the Hunters were still able to take them out with relative ease.

After dispatching the wolves, the group rounded the corner. The group wasn't on this path very long before they saw Arkady leap down from the roof and attack! Immediately after he landed, Arkady unleased a Tragedy Bomb, but Matt reflected it straight back at him. The Hunters unloaded their ranged weapons into the crazed werewolf. After just a few shots, Arkady leaped back into the air and disappeared. Matt:"Since when did you guys have silver bullets?" Judge:"During our battle with Arkady, the Messengers used their White Magic on our weapons and made our ammunition silver. With our upgraded weaponry, our task of defeating Arkady was eased greatly."

With Arkady out of their way, the Hunters were able to move ahead. Or, so it seemed. A large group of six vampresses appeared out of thin air. What was worse, was these vampresses were able to duplicate Martyr's Demand Edge! Judge was able to shoot one before it could attack, and it disintegrated into dust. Martyr and Defender double teamed another and after a few hacks it died. Matt attacked alongside Avenger; the two of them attacked almost in unison and with their mighty slashes, the remaining vampresses fell quickly. After this small battle, Matt broke down a side door to the meal hall and everyone went inside.

There were no zombies inside the meal hall, so it looked like a free ride into the kitchen. That was the case, until a pool of flame appeared behind them. The pool spewed out fifteen spirits then disintegrated. As the others headed into the kitchen, Matt fired a Scar Dragon to cover their escape. Fifteen enemies charged, fifteen enemies disintegrated into orange flames. No enemies appeared in the kitchen, so the Hunters effortlessly reached the meat freezer. In the meat freezer, the Hunters were disheartened to find that in addition to wolf spirits, the Beef Fleshcraft had been revived and were attacking as well!

Matt sent out a Scar Dragon to help clear a path. It eliminated twenty enemies, twelve of which were Fleshcraft. The wolves died instantly because they were ghosts and the Fleshcraft were cut in half by the deadly three-way blast. This was the catalyst for a string of attacks that annihilated the entire room of enemies; the other Hunters pulled out their ranged weapons and started to fire away. The normal Hunters had to stay as far away from the Fleshcraft as possible, to avoid their deadly acidic spray. Matt moved to take on the wolf spirits. Matt's Adamantium Mace was able to take out the spirits in just two swings, while his Holy Ring protected him from their poisonous, but ice-based, breath. The Hunters had a much more difficult time at defeating their foes, but after reloading several times, they were victorious. No sooner were they victorious, then they made their way out of the freezer and towards the secondary courtyard. The exitway to the secondary courtyard was in plain sight, however, when the Hunters neared the exit, Arkady leaped from the air and attacked again! The Hunters unloaded a couple of rounds of silver bullets into his hide and the werewolf ran off with only a little fight. Then, the Hunters headed into the secondary courtyard, getting ever closer to the Warden's mansion.

In the second courtyard, the Hunters could see a huge pack of wolf spirits in the distance. The wolf pack of twenty spirits charged at them with speed no ordinary wolf could ever hope to match! Matt fired wave after wave of Fire-Fortress Blades at the charging wolves. The couple of wolves that didn't die from the barrage were so weak that a single slash from any of the Hunters' weapons could kill them. The way forward was blocked by tons of debris; Arkady's insane rampage was taking its toll on the courtyard.

Fortunately, he'd also knocked down an iron gate, which lead to the basketball court. So, the Hunters took this alternate route. Even though Matt was able to move the debris, an invulnerable Arkady would be waiting for them on the other side! On the basketball court, the Hunters saw undead Rotweilers instead of wolf spirits. Unlike the wolf spirits, these zombies could still get hungry! Matt stepped up to the front of the line and roared thunderously at the pack of dogs. These dogs ran cowardly away, with their decaying tails between their legs! Matt:"You see guys, size **does** matter."

The Hunters were glad that Matt was with them, because the only thing keeping them going was adrenaline. A little Rejuvenation took care of that. Now that they had a small amount of energy back in their bodies, the original Hunters followed Matt through the remains of a gate. This gate lead back to the corridor where the heavy iron gate before the Warden's mansion stood! However, as the Hunters expected, two more pools of flame appeared. A large pool spew out thirty spirits, while a smaller one released twenty.

These spirits were smarter than any of the other spirits that the Hunters had come across; they had figured out that Defender could heal everybody, so they all targeted her! Before any of the others could react, five wolf spirits jumped Defender and started to bite and claw at her repeatedly! Their attacks were ended by a wave of Fire-Fortress Blades. The remainder were defeated swiftly by combining Word of Power and Celestial Wraith.

Judge:"Good God! Samantha!" The others went over their downed friend. She was bleeding at a horrible rate, and her face was mangled terribly. If she didn't receive aid soon, she'd die for sure. However, the wolves didn't anticipate there being a second healer in the group! Matt used his Blood Trick and healed Defender.

Her wounds healed semi-automatically and she awoke with a start, completely revitalized. Matt did the same for the other three Hunters as well, and completely restored their energy. Matt:"[Helping Defender to her feet] I guess the wolves didn't realize that your not the only healer around here! Come on! We need to get moving, it's nearly dawn!" The revitalized group headed toward the heavy iron gate and Arkady attacked them a third time! Matt was ready for him, though. After extending his Mace, Matt slashed Arkady once with either arm diagonally, then did a cross-slash, taking the right arm down and right while the left arm went down and left. This assault was enough to make Arkady flee. Judge:"We're almost there!" After he activated the switch to lift the gate, Judge lead the group of Hunters into the mansion's courtyard!

Immediately after they passed through the iron gate, they saw four pools in the distance. Each pool was spewing out fifteen wolf spirits. Matt fired a Scar Dragon towards each one. The pools themselves were, however, more than the blasts' fifty foot range. But, that didn't stop the dragons from eliminating a large number of wolves from each pool. The once dominating force of sixty was now reduced to a mere twenty. This small number of enemies was no trouble at all for the experience, revitalized Hunters.

After the small battle, the Hunters continued along the courtyard towards the mansion with no opposition at all. At least, until they reached the water fountain. Arkady leaped out of the air again and attacked the Hunters. Matt:"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Matt slashed Arkady a couple of more times, then gave him a right hook, which sent the crazed animal flying through the second floor window. Arkady didn't come back out, so the Hunters continued inside.

A burst of silver bullets killed the lone werewolf spirit in the room. The Hunters continued up the stairs and immediately headed towards the Warden's study. The study was empty...at first. Arkady suddenly burst through the back wall and roared at the Hunters. Out of thin air, eight vampresses appeared as well. Avenger case Smite and was able to kill all eight in one blast! The Hunters then proceeded to fire silver bullets at Arkady. While the evil werewolf was stunned, Matt ran up and cold-clocked him! Arkady slumped to the ground, unconscious. In a far corner of the room, Martyr spotted a staircase that lead up to the attic. The final showdown was about to begin!


	16. The Glorious Dawn

After a short climb they were up in the attic of the mansion. Inside, they saw the Warden standing next to a pinkish-red and purple wormhole. The Hunters took a couple of steps toward when from behind them, they saw Arkady leap at the Warden! Unfortunately for him, the Warden was quick and caught Arkady by throat and began to strangle him! The Hunters watched as red flames started to emanate from Arkady's body and flow into the Hole. In a matter of moment, the repentant werewolf was dead and soulless! The dead body went back into its human state. After holding the dead body by the throat for a few moments, the Warden tossed the lifeless carcass across the room with minuscule effort. The Warden then turned and glared evilly at the Hunters.

Warden:"All I wanted was my life back. But, you could not give me **one** chance at happiness, _could you_? I could've had them recreated just as they were, but _you_ destroyed the vessels Hadrian made for them. Now, I have to put their souls into these...people instead!" The Warden motion towards three humans in cages behind him, then continued. Warden:"But, that doesn't matter to you, does it? DOES IT? All you care about is your **DAMNED HUNT**! The Warden was suddenly calm again, and turned away from the Hunters. The Hunters kept their weapons at the ready. After a short paused, the Warden continued once more. Warden:"The **real** tragedy is that you actually _think_ you can make a difference! [Turns to face the Hunters] Your throwing pepples at giants! Is this _really_ how you want to spend the last moments of your lives? No matter what your **gifts**, you're still _only_ human. I...AM...ETERNAL!" Suddenly, an aura of blackness surrounded the Warden. He fell forward and a gigantic black tail extended from his body. After just a moment, the Warden stood back up, transformed into a larger than life vampiric monster! The creature had pale, white skin and was at least 15 feet tall! The monster roared loudly and stared down at the puny sized Hunters.

Martyr looked over at the side of the room and saw a window covered up with boards, allowing only tiny amounts of sunlight through! Martyr:"That's it! We have get those boards off of the window. If we get the Warden into direct sunlight he'll be done for!" Judge:"Alright, everyone, attack the boards of the window, we must break it! Matt! You distract the Warden; your size and strength will enable you to go toe-to-toe with him." Matt:"Gotcha!"

Martyr activated Demand and Retribution and charged past the evil Warden. She started to cut at the window boards before the Warden could even turn to face her. The slashed at her with his nine inch long hand claws, but the only one being hurt was him! The other Hunters, however, couldn't reach the window with the Warden in the way. The Hunters turned towards Matt and watched him disappear! They saw the illusionary copies trailing behind Matt as he Iron Spectre-ed towards the Warden. Just when Martyr's Retribution was going to wear off, Matt grabbed the Warden and tossed him away from her. From there, the other Hunters charged towards the window!

It turns out that Martyr wasn't doing any damage to the window at all; the Warden's Life Force was connected to the boards, so as long as he wasn't being injured, the Hunters would never be able to break the boards! Not even Matt's Adamantium Mace would be able to do any damage as long as the Warden was in perfect health! Matt, however, sought to correct that detail. He leaped across the room and landed next to the Warden. When the Warden got back to his feet, Matt started to hit him in the face repeatedly. The more that Matt hit the Warden, the easier it was for the others to break through the boards!

After only a couple of hits, however, the Warden slashed Matt across the face, which made him stop attacking. The Warden pressed his attack, slashing Matt across the face with his claws in ceaseless succession. But, the Warden wasn't the only one who could recover quickly. Matt stopped the Warden's next blow and stabbed him through the chest with his Mace, saying, "Two can play at that game, scumbag!" Meanwhile across the room, Avenger activated Cleave, enabling him to do a great deal more harm to the boards than the others. After a few more attacks, one of the six boards flew off of the window, allowing a small amount more of sunlight to enter the room!

The Warden and Matt were evenly matched; the Warden has larger and had the strength of 700,000 men; Matt had the strength of one million, but was only about half of the Warden's height. The Warden proceeded to backhand Matt across the face, sending him flying directly next to the Hole! Matt stood back up, just in time for the Warden to grab Matt in his massive hand and slam him directly against the Hole! The Warden wasn't taking any damage at all, but Matt's flesh was being dissolved little by little! Fortunately for Matt, however, his vastly improved Healing Factor was repairing him faster than the Hole could harm him!

Matt was still in pain, so he fired a wave of Fire-Fortress Blades straight into the Warden's face, which forced him to drop Matt. Matt continued his assault with a Slash 'n' Slam, lifting the Warden into the air, then smashing down onto his chest! Matt then proceeded to punch the Warden straight in the face! However, the Warden's immortality made him invincible to "real" harm. The Warden cupped his hands, much like Matt's when he used Celestial Wraith, except sideways. The Warden fired a straight red beam that sent Matt flying across the room, with a huge hole in his chest. Matt landed directly behind the other Hunters, who were doing an excellent job at destroying the boards that blocked the sunlight; they were already through two of them, and were working on the third!

The Warden crept along the floor silently, until he was close to the Hunters. Warden:"If my beam could kill your healing friend...just imagine what it will do to **you**!" The Warden prepped his attack and fired it! However, Matt was up and atom and stood in the beams path! Just before it hit him, Matt activated his Reflector, sending the deadly beam back at the Warden. The force send the Warden sailing backwards, all the way across the attic!

Matt started to walk back over to the Warden. Matt:"I've got to admit, that hurt! It obviously wasn't fire-based, or it wouldn't hurt me at all. What was it made of?" The Warden got back to his feet and answered, "Well, since you won't live much longer, I may as well tell you. That was condensed nuclear radiation!" Matt cupped his hands and said, "Well, you don't say...Celestial Wraith!" The white dragon exploded out of Matt's hands and smacked into the Warden! If the Warden wasn't immortal, he probably would've bitten the dust! The Warden was thrown backwards and pinned against the wall by the blast force. Matt:"[Smugly] That was about 30 atomic bombs worth of force you just ate!"

The Warden roared with fury and slid across the floor towards Matt with incredible speed. Matt gave a roar of his own and charged the Warden with Iron Spectre. The Warden was indeed fast, but with Iron Spectre Matt easily out ran him. Matt grabbed the Warden around his neck and tossed him backwards into the wall. During the Warden and Matt's brawl, the other Hunters progressed down to the fifth board and a great deal amount more sunlight continued to pour into the room.

Matt and the Warden continued to deck each other left and right, until the Warden got an extra-hard slash in on Matt's face. Matt flew backwards and landed behind the Hunters once more. The Hunters turned and saw Matt's slash wound heal up before their eyes. Matt:"You guys want to switch for a little bit?" The Hunters agreed and cocked their ranged weapons. Matt:"Just shoot him enough to weaken his protective spell. I'll take care of the rest!" There was very little left for him to take care of. The other Hunters had been able to punch through the first five layers of boards and the sixth was already greatly damaged!

The Hunters took over Matt's position as the "weakener" and started filling the Warden full of silver bullets. Although the bullets were doing very little harm to the Warden, they were doing just enough; Matt extended his Adamantium Mace and started to slash at the boards. The cuts were very clean and fine. Once Matt saw that he'd punched through, he started to rip the boards off of the window, revealing the full extent of the sunlight's illumination. Matt:"Guys! Lure him over here! I've gotten through!"

The other Hunters started to run in Matt's direction, towards the deadly sunlight. Matt gave a Scar Dragon to the window boards, blasting them to smithereens as a precautionary venture. The sunlight shown into the room completely; should the Warden step into the sunlight, his vampiric skin would burn and he would die! There was one unexpected snag, however. The others were able to out run the Warden, but the huge, lumbering Avenger wasn't! The Warden grasped him in his massive hand and carried him over to the Hole! The Warden was going to do to Avenger what he did to Matt, but Avenger couldn't heal like Matt could!

Matt came to his friend's aid and leaped into the Warden's path. Matt:"It's time for you to **rise and shine**, scumbag!" With that, Matt gave one, final, devastating punch to the Warden. Matt aimed his punch just right, because he sent the Warden flying into the three cages! On impact, the people inside were released and teleported to the train station.

The Warden, however, wasn't so lucky. With the window boards broken, sunlight poured into the room! The Warden roared loudly as steam and black smoke erupted off of his skin! The Warden slumped to his knees and morphed back into his human form. The Warden was defeated; he lifted his head and stared into oblivion! Meanwhile, all the remaining rot in the city began to shake and crumble; the Hunters were able to see hundreds of blue orbs being sucked into the Hole. Things were lively at the train station as well; the last remaining survivors were boarding the fixed up monorail. The Engineer shouted, "Come on! Let's go!", as he waved everyone forward. A couple of moments later, he put the monorail into top gear and left the city with amazing speed.

Back in the mansion, the Hunters were unprotected from the Hole's fury and tiny wounds began to appear on their bodies! Judge said a prayer and it was answered by the Messengers; a barrier of White Magic surrounded the Hunters and Matt, protecting their bodies and souls from all of the Hole's fury! The Warden on the other hand, wasn't so fortunate; though he fought hard, he was unable to fight against the powerful pull of the Hole. He even tried to grip the floorboards, but that proved completely futile in only a few moments! Finally, the Warden couldn't fight against it any longer and was pulled into the Hole! Warden:"Noooooooooooo!" He trailed off as the Hole closed behind him.

The threat to Ashcroft was eliminated and all the zombies were destroyed! Armed with this knowledge, the Hunters walked triumphantly towards the window, beaming with the morning sunlight. As they stood in front of the window and gazed out into the glorious morning, Matt suddenly said, "It's heart-warming." Judge:"What?" Matt:"The fact that we put an end to 134 years of hate and revenge in one night!" The other Hunters nodded in agreement. Defender:"Ah, but some hates don't die easily. There will always be rot infecting the world. Who knows, maybe the Hole will open again in Ashcroft." Outside the mansion, a Warp Box suddenly appeared. Avenger:"What the hell is that?" Matt:"[Seeing the box] My ride back to my world." Martyr:"Will we ever see you again?" Matt:"Probably. But, let's just say that if God thinks Ashcroft is going to need a `Hero' again, I'll be here."

With that, the Hunters left the mansion and went into the sunlit courtyard. Matt went back to his human state and entered the Warp Box. With a final farewell, Matt stepped into the Warp Box and was warped back to Earth, leaving the Hunters to continue their work. Matt slept in the Warp Box and was taken back to his camp site. After a couple of hours, he reached his campsite at 9:00 AM, only a single day after he'd left! All his friends woke up at just about the same time to see their battle-scared friend arrive. Matt was welcomed back readily and was asked questions regarding his adventure in rapid succession. Matt shook off the questions temporarily; his hunger was intense. Matt:"Let's get breakfast started and I'll tell you all about it. But for now, let's just say that it was quite a _ghoulish quest_..."

Mission Accomplished!


End file.
